Axar.az presents the article "Azerbaijan's military parade is a moment of pride for all Turkic People" by Andrew Korybko.

Azerbaijan will hold a military parade on 10 December to celebrate last month's victory over Armenia in what is now referred to as the Patriotic War. Yerevan surrendered on 10 November, but Victory Day will officially be celebrated on 8 November every year to commemorate the liberation of Shusha since the first-mentioned date coincides with Ataturk's death anniversary. Nevertheless, the military parade will be held on the one-month anniversary of Azerbaijan's glorious victory and will even be attended by Turkish President Erdogan.

The military parade is a moment of pride for all Turkic people because it showed that they're truly a rising force in International Relations. Although they're spread across a wide array of countries, they remain united in spirit, as was proven by the Turkish government and people's overwhelming support for Azerbaijan during its Patriotic War. This explains why President Erdogan will be participating as his Azerbaijani counterpart's guest of honour because Ankara played an enormous role in providing moral and political support to Baku.

Turkey is also one of Azerbaijan's closest military partners, and the glorious victory wouldn't have happened as swiftly as it did have it not been for the former's export of armed drones to the latter. This technology was a game-changer, and its masterful application in the Patriotic War will be studied by military experts the world over for decades. Not only did they enable the Azerbaijani Armed Forces to make rapid gains in the conflict, but they also greatly reduced collateral damage and therefore saved civilian lives.

Another point of pride for the Turkic people is that Azerbaijan and Turkey will now be more closely connected to one another via the trans-Armenian corridor that was agreed to as part of the peace deal. The people of both countries regard each other as being part of “one nation with two states”, and their organic grassroots integration with one another will take an enormous step forward through that corridor's completion. They were already connected via Georgia, but the Armenian corridor has huge emotional significance because of the war.

The prevailing trend that's on display for the rest of the world to witness is that the Turkic people are coming closer together as a result of their shared struggles. Azerbaijani-Turkish cooperation in the Patriotic War proved fruitful and can serve as an example for other Turkic countries in the event that they too ever find themselves embroiled in a similar conflict. Even if they don't, they might very well be inspired by Azerbaijan's military parade and last month's victory to more actively connect with their fellow Turkic people abroad.

While some observers might be concerned by the unmistakable trend of pan-Turkism's return to the global fore, the author reminded everyone last month in an earlier article for Axar that “The Pan-Turkism Social Movement Isn't Geopolitically Threatening”. Unlike some other ethnic movements in history, it harbors no supremacist ambitions or territorial demands, which makes it the complete opposite of the fascist ideology of so-called “Greater Armenia” that was thankfully killed on the Karabakh battlefields.

That's another reason why Azerbaijan regards the latest conflict as its own Patriotic War because it defeated a fascist ideology just like the USSR (of which Azerbaijan was once a part) did seven and a half decades ago. Many people across the former Soviet Union still commemorate Victory Day on 9 May every year for this reason, and Moscow always uses the occasion to show off its latest military wares. Azerbaijan will do the same with respect to its own Victory Day every 8 November even though this year's parade will be on 10 December instead.

Taking all of this into account, tomorrow will be a very exciting day for the Turkic people and their friends all across the world. It marks the victory of the Turkic people over a regional fascist threat which wouldn't have been possible had they not worked closely together as Azerbaijan and Turkey did on the moral, political, and military fronts against Armenia. Observers usually warn about history repeating itself, but this time everyone is thankful that it did because Azerbaijan's victory in its Patriotic War is as historic as the USSR's during its own.