The Azerbaijani National Guard () is an armed force of the

Government of Azerbaijan The politics of Azerbaijan take place in an Authoritarianism, authoritarian system where elections are not free and fair, political opponents are repressed, civil rights are limited, human rights in Azerbaijan, human rights abuses are widespread ...

, and operates as a semi-independent entity as well as the a reserve component of the Azerbaijan Army. The Special State Protection Service (SSPS) of Azerbaijan is a military unit subordinate to the

President of Azerbaijan The president of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the head of state of the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. The Constitution of Azerbaijan, Constitution states that the president is the embodiment of Executive (government), executive power, co ...

. The missions of the Azerbaijani National Guard are to protect government facilities such as the

National Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, and the

Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan The Office of the President of Azerbaijan () is the executive administration of President of Azerbaijan. The office is in charge of fulfilling the constitutional responsibilities of the President. The headquarters of office is located on Istiglal ...

as well as foreign heads of state and government in Azerbaijan.

History

The National Guard was established on 25 December 1991. Initially, military service in National Guard was based on a voluntarily two-year contract. According to the presidential decree of 31 July 1992, the National Guard was expanded into the armed forces. Initially, military service in the National Guard was based on a two-year contract on a voluntary basis. The selection of personnel was carried out with the assistance of the personnel bodies of the Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Interior. In 1993, Main Security Department of the Supreme State Authorities and Administration was established on the basis of the National Guard. The guard was definitely active in December 1996 but now appears to have been incorporated into the Special State Protection Service. The battle banner of National Guard was approved on 4 October 2005.

Duties

Its responsibilities include organization of the President of Azerbaijan, the protection of the

, the Cabinet of Ministers, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, the Constitutional Court, the Central Election Commission and other public facilities as well as the protection of foreign heads of state on the territory of Azerbaijan. The National Guard has a wartime role as part of Azerbaijan's Land Forces. One of the most important tasks of the SSPS is the safety of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and the South Caucasus Pipeline.

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

provides the service with several helicopters and vehicles in order to safeguard the pipeline. The Heydar Aliyev Memorial Museum and Honor is locoated on the territory of the National Guard.

Ceremonial activities

The National Guard provides a

guard of honour A guard of honour (Commonwealth English), honor guard (American English) or ceremonial guard, is a group of people, typically drawn from the military, appointed to perform ceremonial duties – for example, to receive or guard a head of state ...

battalion () for ceremonial activities in the national capital. The guard of honor consists of one chief, three flag bearers, three groups of 20 people each and the chief of those three groups. The guard of honor consists of a total of 66 people and the chief of the guard of honor. In September 2011, the honour guard battalion received new distinct uniforms for their duties, replacing their black

beret A beret ( , ; ; ; ) is a soft, round, flat-crowned cap made of hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, wool felt, or acrylic fibre. Mass production of berets began in the 19th century in Southern France and the north of History of Spain (1808 ...

and jacket with a white coat and cap. it takes part in the program of foreign leader's

state visit A state visit is a formal visit by the head of state, head of a sovereign state, sovereign country (or Governor-general, representative of the head of a sovereign country) to another sovereign country, at the invitation of the head of state (or ...

s including wreath-laying ceremonies in front of the Tomb of the

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 ...

in the Alley of Honor and in front of the Eternal Flame at Martyrs' Lane. The members of the National Guard had the honor of carrying the Flag of Azerbaijan and the

Olympic flag The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses icons, flags, and symbols to represent and enhance the Olympic Games. These symbols include those commonly used during Olympic competitions such as the flame, fanfare, and theme as well as those u ...

during the Opening Ceremony of the 2015 European Games. It provided all ceremonial guards during the state funeral of Heydar Aliyev in December 2003.

Gallery

File:Petro Poroshenko in Azerbaijan (07-14-2016) 05.jpg File:Dmitry Medvedev in Azerbaijan 3 July 2008-7.jpg File:Dmitry Medvedev in Azerbaijan 3 July 2008-2.jpg,

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...

and

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 ...

inspecting the National Guard during Medvedev's visit to

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

in 2008. File:The opening ceremony of the first European games 5.jpg, Members of the Azerbaijani National Guard raising the Olympic Flag. File:Гвардеец баку.jpg File:XDMX MQ forma.jpg

History

Duties

Ceremonial activities

Gallery

See also

References

External links