Charges against Adalat Verdiyev absurd - Arif Yunus

ArmInfo.  Military expert  and regular on state television channels, Adalat Verdiyev, has been  accused of a serious crime-disclosure of military secrets. According  to the charge (Article 308 of the Criminal Code), if the accused can  prove the disclosure was unintentional, they may face 3 to 7 years in  prison. Under aggravating circumstances, the sentence could range  from 4 to 8 years, Turan News reports. 

What's surprising about the arrest and charges against the expert is  that the heights of the mountains and the military facilities located  there, which he pointed to in his video recording, are clearly  visible with high optical resolution from space or through aerial  cameras. Why, then, is the expert being prosecuted?

Arif Yunus, head of the Department of Conflictology and Migration at  the Institute for Peace and Democracy, has conducted research on the  armed forces of South Caucasus countries. He called the official  charges against Verdiyev "laughable" and urged the public to look  into the real reasons behind the arrest.  Yunus shared his views with  Turan.

- Are those claiming that the location of Azerbaijan's military  facilities is secret correct?

-Azerbaijan is a member of the OSCE, and every year the Ministry of  Defense (MoD) submits detailed information to the Ministry of Foreign  Affairs, which then forwards it to the OSCE headquarters in Vienna.   This information includes the location and composition of  Azerbaijan's armed forces, as well as data on arms and equipment  purchased in the previous year, including the seller and cost. All  OSCE members are required to do this.

The data isn't vague. For example, it isn't enough to indicate the  number of soldiers, officers, tanks, planes, or other military  equipment. It must specify where each corps is located, the number of  soldiers and officers there, and details about military bases, such  as the specific types and numbers of aircraft stationed at the  airbase in Kurdamir. Geographical coordinates of airfields must also  be provided to allow OSCE members to verify the information from  space. This information is then published and easily accessible. At  one point, I even planned to publish a book about the armed forces of  the South Caucasus using this data.

So, countries-including Armenia-are already well aware of the numbers  and locations of Azerbaijan's armed forces through official MoD data!  Additionally, European observers stationed on the Armenia- Azerbaijan  border use modern equipment connected to satellite intelligence,  receiving precise information about the Azerbaijani army's positions  along the border and in Karabakh.

This is the 21st century, and the concepts of "state secret" and  "espionage" have changed, focusing more on military technology than  on information about locations. That's why it's intriguing to uncover  the real reason for Verdiyev's arrest, as he is someone considered  entirely loyal to the authorities.

- You mentioned OSCE documents. Are military secrets published in  media accessible to the public?

- To clarify, let me recall a real story. In 1999, Leyla Yunus and I  decided to demonstrate the absurdity of such accusations and  simultaneously test public awareness. She held a press conference  where she detailed the size of the Azerbaijani army, providing exact  figures but withholding sources, implying they were her own. Judging  by the shocked expressions of journalists, not everyone dared to  publish the data. A few did, but they quickly called us to say they  were summoned by the Prosecutor General's Office and threatened with  prosecution for disclosing state secrets.

A week later, she held another press conference, placing a large  stack of books in English and Russian before her. She explained that  these books were officially published, openly sold, and were the  source of her data. She concluded by showing a book published in Baku  titled The Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict:  The Military Aspect,  authored by Colonel Jangir Arasly, an assistant to the Azerbaijani  Minister of Defense. This book contained the exact figures she had  shared at the previous press conference.