Tajik military personnel are participating in a ten-day international military exercise, dubbed “Birlestik-2024” (We Are United – 2024).
The press center of the Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan says military contingents from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are participating in the exercise that kicked off at the Oymasha training range and at the sea area two kilometers from Cape Tokmak on July 8.
The purpose of the exercises, involving 4000 servicemen and up to 700 units of military equipment is reportedly in rehearsing coordination and interaction in joint missions to localize an armed conflict.
Tactical episodes will be played out with the participation of ground and air reconnaissance teams, maritime special forces, army and front-line aviation crews, warships and boats, artillery crews, assault and tank units, according to the Kazakh Defense Ministry press center.
It is to be noted that Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are member nations of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), formerly called the Turkic Council or the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, which is an international organization comprising prominent independent Turkic countries: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkiye and Uzbekistan. It is an intergovernmental organization whose overarching aim is promoting comprehensive cooperation among Turkic-speaking states. First proposed by the then Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 2006, it was founded on October 3, 2009, in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. The General Secretariat is in Istanbul.
Hungary and Turkmenistan are the observer states. Hungary received the observer status in 2018, while Turkmenistan received the observer status in 2021.
