Azerbaijan

Once a socialist republic of the USSR (Soviet Union,) the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan Respublikası) established its full independence in October of 1991. Since that time, there has been a gradual decline in the use of Soviet-style camouflage uniforms within the Azerbaijani Armed Forces (Azərbaycan Silahlı Qüvvələri) with the standard operational uniforms being replaced by those of other nations and at least a couple patterns of indigenous origin.

Between February of 1988 and May 1994, Azerbaijan took part in the Nagorno-Karabakh War, in which ethnic Armenians living in Azerbaijan (and militarily supported by the Republic of Armenia) fought to wrest control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region from the Azebaijanis. A ceasefire was declared on 16 May 1994, although tensions still exist between the two nations.

Camouflage Patterns of Azerbaijan

• The traditional Soviet KLMK sun-ray or solnechnye zaychiki pattern camouflage uniform has been in service with Azerbaijani forces since it was a Soviet republic. During the earliest period of its independence, airborne and special forces units retained the pattern, which they have continued to use sporadically into the present era. The grid-pattern printed on the reverse of these uniforms was intended to render early night vision equipment less effective.

• Azerbaijani forces in the early 1990s have been documented as wearing at least two variants of the Soviet-designed 1988 TTsKO tricolor woodland or 3-TsV pattern. One variant is also worn by Armenia and features very dark brown & medium brown shapes on a light brown background. The other is a standard green/brown pattern of Russian origin. Additionally, Azeris have been documented wearing what appears to be the 3-TsV "whorls" variant commonly attributed to Georgia.

• Some photographs from the 1990s illustrate Azerbaijani troops wearing variations of the Russian dubok (little oak) or VSR camouflage pattern, as well as the later Flora pattern of 1998. These were undoubtedly imported from Russia or the Ukraine and appear to have been fairly short-lived.