Ankara, Baku to join Tbilisi drill in 2014

TBILISI

Turkey and Azerbaijan could join the joint U.S.-Georgian military exercises in 2014, Georgian Defense Minister Irakliy Alasaniya said yesterday.

“The Georgian Defense Ministry plans joint training on the level of a brigade next year which will help our servicemen to settle bigger and more complex tasks and raise their combat readiness,” Alasaniya was quoted as saying by the Georgian media, news.az website reported. “We are negotiating on this issue primarily with the U.S. side. The regional countries will supposedly join this exercise. Naturally, we do not conceal that we have special military cooperation with Turkey and Azerbaijan.”

“We already hold trilateral dialogues, joint staff exercises were also held. In this respect, we suppose that if the geography of participants expands, this will primarily include these two countries.” Alasaniya said. The statement came as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered March 28 unscheduled military exercises involving thousands of troops and dozens of ships in the Black Sea region. The Georgian Foreign Ministry said that Russia’s actions “are at odds with the interests of stability” in Europe and could be viewed as a “disproportionate reaction to possible threats.”