Military aircraft did fly over Georgia during the war

On October 3, the National Security Council of Georgia convened a meeting to discuss the “renewed armed confrontation, and the state of affairs between Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia”. After the meeting, the National Security Council announced that the issuance of permits for transiting military cargo to Armenia and Azerbaijan had been suspended. “The Government of Georgia, since the inception of escalation, temporarily suspended the issuance of permits for transiting military cargo through its territory in the direction of both said countries, be it by air or land,” the statement reads.

Prior to this statement by the Georgian side, the issue that Turkish-Azerbaijani military aircraft is flying over Georgian airspace while Georgian skies are closed for military aircraft coming to Armenia was discussed on the Internet.

The Fact Investigation Platform has decided to study the history of Turkish-Azerbaijani military aircraft flying over Georgia since September 27.

The flights

As the Fact Investigation Platform has reported several times, in preparation for the hostilities and after their launch, Azerbaijan had three main options for transporting military equipment: Silk Way airline belonging to Aliyev’s family and the planes of the Turkish and Azerbaijani Air Forces.

In all likelihood, a large amount of military equipment was transferred from Israel through the “Ilyushins” belonging to the Silk Way company owned by the Aliyevs.

Most of Azerbaijan’s military flights are made by Russian-made Il-76s. It is a military transport aircraft designed for medium-haul flights. The Il-76 is manufactured by the company “Ilyushin Aviation Complex” in Moscow, and its main mission is the transfer of military equipment and personnel.

On the first day of hostilities (September 27), one of these Ilyushins, the 4K-AZ101, made a direct flight to Azerbaijan from Tunisia via Georgia. On September 30, the same “Ilyushin” left to Baku from Ankara, again using the Georgian airspace. There was a flight by the same route on September 29 as well.

On September 27, the Ilyushin 4K-78131 board belonging to the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan also made an Ankara-Baku flight. As in the previous cases, the flight was made through the airspace of Georgia.

In some cases, the history of Turkish Air Force flights is not stored in the Flightradar database. However, other sources have maintained information on the movements of the Turkish Air Force over Georgian airspace. Thus, flights of the Turkish Air Force over Georgian airspace were registered at least on September 29 and October 2.

Thus, based on the open source information on the flights of aircraft transporting military cargo between Azerbaijan and Turkey, it can be concluded that during the war, military equipment was transported through Georgian airspace to Azerbaijan.

Ani Avetisyan