Loss of Security and Defense Sector in 2015

Loss of security and defense sector of Azerbaijan since the beginning of 2015 amounted to 12 soldiers. At the same time, 8 losses were in fighting and 4 were not. This information is given by the Caspian Defense Studies Institute on the basis of monitoring the media and social networks.

7 soldiers were killed by Armenian attacks and one hit a mine.

With regard to non-combat losses, two military men died as a result of hazing, one - from careless handling of weapons and one - from a disease.

In addition, five soldiers were wounded or injured.

Three men were injured in fighting, one - in a mine explosion, and one - of hazing.

At the same time, the Institute of Caspian Military Research points to the difficulty of monitoring losses compared to previous years.

The Defense Ministry and other law enforcement agencies in most cases tend to hide losses.

According to the Institute, the media loyal to the authorities were instructed not to disseminate information about the combat losses.

The Institute reports that it will update the statistics of losses due to new information.

Note that this NGO is headed by Jasur Sumerinli, a military expert, who has left Azerbaijan. According to him, he was forced to do it after the pressure and prosecution by the authorities.

The head of the Institute Jasur Sumerinli also pointed to the deterioration of social protection of servicemen in connection with the devaluation of the manat. According to him, the salary of servicemen is already insignificant. So lieutenants in the rear service only get 500 manat a month and warrant officers and sergeants of the extended service get even less.

This amount is inadequate to the military budget, which amounts to $ 4 billion. However, 60-70 percent of these funds are spent on arms purchases and orders from the Ministry of Defense Industry.

In the view of Sumerinli, there are problems with housing. Despite the fact that several years ago the head of state signed a decree on the improvement of the living conditions of soldiers and about 300-400 people got apartments, about 1,000 active military personnel and more reserve officers are in the queue and no one knows when they will get housing.

According to Sumerinli, until adequate social protection is not provided in the army, problems with non-statutory relations and lack of hope for career advancement for officers will remain. The expert believes that the army in the first place must pay attention to the human factor. -06D-