The 1st Army Corps (), also referred to as the Barda 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 The Azerbaijani Land Forces () are the land force component of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan has been trying to create professional, well trained, and mobile armed forces. Based on 2013 statistics, th ...

. It is considered to be the most dangerous, strategic post of the Armed Forces. Most of its units are located on the Armenian border with

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 ...

. It is currently led by Major General Hikmat Hasanov. It is currently deployed from Barda, which is south of Yevlakh near

Ganja ''Ganja'' (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for cannabis flower, specifically marijuana or hashish. Its usage in English dates to before 1689. Etymology ''Ganja'' is borrowed from Hindi (, IPA: �aːɲd͡ʒa� ...

History

Raised in on 3 March 1992 the corps descends from the Azerbaijani 701st Motor Rifle Brigade, 708th Motor Rifle Brigade, and the 130th Motor Rifle Brigade.C. W. Bland
Azerbaijan: Is War Over Nagornyy Karabakh a Realistic Option? Advanced Research and Assessment Group. Caucasus Series 08/17. — Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, 2008, p.12
The former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces General Najmaddin Sadikov made a great contribution to the establishment of the military unit, becoming the first commander of the unit. Among the operations it took part in were the Battle of Kalbajar.

Karabakh operations

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 Madagiz. It would later be captured by the Azerbaijani forces on 3 October. On 9 December, President

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He is also the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005. The son and second child of former Aze ...

signed a decree to award General Hasanov with the Karabakh Order, congratulating the corps at the same time for their work. Deputy corps commander Babak Samidli led part of the corps in the Madagiz offensive, giving an interview to

Euronews Euronews (stylised in lowercase) is a pan-European television news broadcasting, news network, headquartered in Lyon, France. It is a provider of livestreamed news, which can be viewed in Europe and North Africa via satellite, and in most of the ...

on 27 October announcing the capture of the Sarsang Reservoir. He was later killed by a mine in a post ceasefire collection of bodies.

Composition

The corps HQ is in

Barda, Azerbaijan Barda ( ) is a city and the capital of the Barda District in Azerbaijan, located south of Yevlax and on the left bank of the Tartar river. It served as the capital of Caucasian Albania by the end of the 5th century. Barda became the chief city of ...

. Among the brigades is the 701st Motorized Rifle Brigade, the first unit in the military. The brigades have artillery, tank, anti-tank, reconnaissance, communication and other subdivisions. The armament of choice are the

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet Union, Soviet main battle tanks that entered production in 1973. The T-72 was a development based on the T-64 using thought and design of the previous Object 167M. About 25,000 T-72 tanks have been built, and refu ...

tanks,

BTR-82A The BTR-80 () is an 8×8 wheeled amphibious armoured personnel carrier (APC) designed in the Soviet Union. It was adopted in 1985 and replaced the previous vehicles, the BTR-60 and BTR-70, in the Soviet Army. It was first deployed during the ...

armored personnel carriers, and the

BMP-2 The BMP-2 (''Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty'', , literally "combat machine/vehicle f theinfantry") is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s. Development his ...

. The total staff of the brigades are estimated at 3500-4000 people.

Commanders

* Major General Nizam Osmanov (2002–2014) * Major General Hikmat Hasanov (since 2014)

Gallery

File:1st Army Corps at the Victory parade.jpg, Members of the corps at the Baku Victory Parade of 2020.

References

{{Azerbaijani Armed Forces 1992 establishments in Azerbaijan Military units and formations established in 1992 Army corps of Azerbaijan Military units and formations of Azerbaijan in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War