The 3rd Army Corps (), also referred to as the Shamkir Army Corps is a regional

military formation Military organization ( AE) or military organisation ( BE) is the structuring of the armed forces of a state so as to offer such military capability as a national defense policy may require. Formal military organization tends to use hierarc ...

of the Azerbaijani Land Forces, concentrated against Armenian occupied territories in

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh (, ; ) is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik. Its ter ...

History

Soldiers of the corps took part in the 2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes. A Ganja Military Court passed a verdict against six commanding officers of the Shamkir Corps of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, who were accused "of negligence and admitting sabotage of the Armenian Armed Forces in June 2012, which killed five Azerbaijani soldiers", referring to the casualties during the 2012 clashes. The court sentenced the officers to 4–5 years in prison. Until 2018, forces of the 707th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 3rd Army Corps guarded the Qazax sector of the

Armenia–Azerbaijan border The Armenia–Azerbaijan border (; ) is the international border between the Armenia, Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. Estimates of the border's length vary from to . European routes European route E002, E002 and E ...

. As a result of the 2020 Armenian–Azerbaijani skirmishes in the Tovuz District, the Chief of Staff of the 3rd Corps, Major General

Polad Hashimov Polad Israyil oghlu Hashimov (; 2 January 1975 – 14 July 2020) was an Azerbaijanis, Azerbaijani military officer, National Hero of Azerbaijan and a major general who served as the Deputy Commander and the Chief of Staff of the 3rd Army Corps ...

, was killed. During the

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, surrounding occupied territories. It was a major esca ...

, the corps took part in clashes in western Azerbaijan.

Commanders

* Major General Fikret Mammadov (May 1998-15 May 2002) * Colonel Garay Bagirov (15 May 2002-) * Major General Chingiz Shafiev (-23 February 2011) * Lieutenant General

Rovshan Akbarov Lieutenant General Rovshan Telman oghlu Akbarov () is an Azerbaijani general and military leader. Early life and career He was born in Baku in 1965. From 1972 to 1979, he received his secondary education in secondary school No.42. In 1979, he ...

(2011-2020)

Composition

* HQ * 7th Motor Rifle Brigade * 11th Motor Rifle Brigade * 12th Motor Rifle Brigade * 16th Motor Rifle Brigade * 19th Motor Rifle Brigade * 20th Motor Rifle Brigade

Corps territory

Ilham Aliyev in Shamkir - 10 september 2013 - 06

On 15 November 2014, President Ilham Aliyev took part in the opening of the headquarters building, built on the territory of the corps. Among the assets on the territory of the corps are the following:

Heydar Aliyev Heydar Alirza oghlu Aliyev (10 May 1923 – 12 December 2003) was an Azerbaijani politician who was a Soviet party boss in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic from 1969 to 1982, and the third president of Azerbaijan from October 1993 to ...

Museum, Barracks, 500-seat auditorium, Library, Computer room, Soldiers Club, Medical Center, and Soldiers' Canteen. There is also a

parade ground A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

, a sports town and a swimming pool that were constructed in the

military townlet In military of Russia and some other post-Soviet states (as well as in the former Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, ...

Incidents

In February 2011, a soldier of the corps shot 8 Azerbaijani servicemen dead at a defense point in near

Martakert Martakert (, , also , ) or Aghdara ( ) is a town in the Aghdara District of Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Until 2023 it was controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, as the centre of its Martakert Province. The villa ...

References

{{Azerbaijani Armed Forces 1991 establishments in Azerbaijan Military units and formations established in 1991 Shamkir District Army corps of Azerbaijan Military units and formations of Azerbaijan in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War