Azerbaijan to purchase Turkish T-129 ATAK helicopters, total cost $3 billion

Turkey's native Attack Helicopter T-129 ATAK on training flight

Azerbaijan will purchase 60 T-129 ATAK helicopters manufactured by Turkey, the Sabah newspaper reported on Monday.

According to the report, Azerbaijan ordered T-129 ATAK helicopters from the Turkish aerospace company Türk Havacılık ve Uzay Sanayii (TAI), and mass production will begin in this year.

Purchase of 60 helicopters, specially manufactured for Azerbaijan, will cost $3 billion.

Besides Azerbaijan, UAE, Malaysia, Pakistan and Jordan showed an interest in buying helicopters.

Turkish-made ATAK combat helicopters are part of the state program aimed at ensuring the Turkish army with arms, equipment and outfit of own production. Currently, Turkey has achieved self-sufficiency in this sector at 50 percent.

ATAK helicopters can reach speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour, to fly in any weather conditions and poor visibility.

Azerbaijan Makes Massive Israeli Weapons Purchase -- But Not Because Of Iran

Joshua KUCERA    EurasiaNet

Azerbaijan has agreed to buy $1.6 billion in weapons from Israel, a massive deal that is likely Azerbaijan's largest single arms purchase ever. The deal will include drones, anti-aircraft and missile defense systems, Israeli officials have told news agencies. The deal would be almost equal to Azerbaijan's stated 2012 defense budget of $1.7 billion (though will certainly be spread out over many years).
The timing of the deal is misleading: regardless of the ongoing ratcheting up of tension between Israel and Iran, and increasing attention to Israel's intelligence activities in Azerbaijan, these weapons are destined to be used not against Iran, but against Armenia, which controls the breakaway Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno Karabakh. Though it's tempting to think otherwise. The AP reports:

Israeli defense officials Sunday confirmed $1.6 billion in deals to sell drones as well as anti-aircraft and missile-defense systems to Azerbaijan, bringing sophisticated Israeli technology to the doorstep of archenemy Iran.
The sales by state-run Israel Aerospace Industries come at a delicate time. Israel has been laboring hard to form diplomatic alliances in a region that seems to be growing increasingly hostile to the Jewish state.
Its most pressing concern is Iran's nuclear program, and Israeli leaders have hinted broadly they would be prepared to attack Iranian nuclear facilities if they see no other way to keep Iran from building bombs...
As Iran's nuclear showdown with the West deepens, the Islamic Republic sees the Azeri frontier as a weak point, even though both countries are mostly Shiite Muslim.

Armenia and Azerbaijan: Preventing War

International Crisis Group        Europe Briefing N°60 

OVERVIEW

An arms race, escalating front-line clashes, vitriolic war rhetoric and a virtual breakdown in peace talks are increasing the chance Armenia and Azerbaijan will go back to war over Nagorno-Karabakh. Preventing this is urgent. Increased military capabilities on both sides would make a new armed conflict in the South Caucasus far more deadly than the 1992-1994 one that ended with a shaky truce. Neither side would be likely to win easily or quickly. Regional alliances could pull in Russia, Turkey and Iran. Vital oil and gas pipelines near the front lines would be threatened, as would the cooperation between Russia and Turkey that is central to regional stability. Another refugee crisis would be likely. To start reversing this dangerous downward trend, the opposing sides should sign a document on basic principles for resolving the conflict peacefully and undertake confidence-building steps to reduce tensions and avert a resumption of fighting.

Haroutioun Khachatryan Claims: "Armenian-Turkish Rapprochement as a Factor for Decreasing Tensions in the South Caucasus:Why was the Opportunity Missed?"

Haroutioun Khachatryan                        Caucasus Edition

The South Caucasus is in a political deadlock for many reasons, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict being one of the most important ones among them. The football diplomacy of Armenia and Turkey of 2008–2010 opened a possibility for the region’s countries to get out of that deadlock. However, this chance was not used, and the potential for improvement of the situation in the region due to normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations still remains open. The domestic problems of Turkey are the principal reason for this failure, but it seems that Azerbaijan’s efforts aimed at undermining the rapprochement process also played an important role. As a result, the region may remain in this dangerous deadlock for an indefinite period of time.

The Nagorno-Karabakh problem has become a factor that is acting negatively on every aspect of life in the South Caucasus. Armenians and Azeris present mutually exclusive demands for the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and the positions of the conflicting sides do not seem to be moving closer. Recent rapprochement efforts between Armenia and Turkey might encourage a move away from the deadlock and help Turkey become a more active, neutral player in the South Caucasus. Unfortunately, this opportunity was not used as Turkey favored Azerbaijan in its policy on Karabakh. Below is my view of the problem in more detail.