Azerbaijan holds first joint drills with Turkey since Karabakh victory

A view through a car window shows Azerbaijani service members riding in the back of a truck in Stepanakert city, known as Khankendi by Azerbaijan, following an Azeri military operation and a further mass exodus of ethnic Armenians from the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, October 2, 2023. REUTERS/Aziz Karimov/File Photo

(Reuters) - Azerbaijan said on Monday it had begun a series of joint military exercises with close ally Turkey, the first since Baku retook the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh last month, prompting most of the territory's ethnic Armenians to flee.

Azerbaijan's defence ministry said in a statement that up to 3,000 military personnel were participating in exercises named for the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.