On August 25, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on amendments to the “Regulations on the State Service for Mobilization and Conscription for Military Service.”
The decree also envisages the removal of the words “military training of students of higher education institutions under a special program for training officers” from paragraph 1.1 of the regulations.
Medianews.az notes that before the August 25 decree, paragraph 1.1 of the “Regulations on the State Service for Mobilization and Conscription for Military Service” was as follows:
1.1. The State Service for Mobilization and Conscription for Military Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan (hereinafter - the Service) is a central executive authority that implements state policy and regulation in the fields of military-patriotic education of citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan, pre-conscription training for conscription into active military service, conscription into active military service, service in the reserve, mobilization readiness and mobilization call-up, training in special military specialties, military training of students of higher education institutions under a special program for training officers, (selection by Medianews.az) conscription during peacetime for the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan and other armed formations provided for by legislation (hereinafter - the Armed Forces and other armed formations), and during mobilization and wartime for the Armed Forces and other armed formations, as well as special units, with military personnel and military transport vehicles, as well as staffing with citizens in civilian positions (hereinafter - in the relevant field).
Thus, by the President’s decree on August 25, the words “military training of students of higher education institutions under a special program for training officers” were removed from this paragraph.
On the same day, the decree was interpreted in the Azerbaijani media as “the abolition of the authority of the State Service for Mobilization and Conscription for Military Service in the field of military training of students of higher education institutions under a special program for training officers,” and the President’s decree was presented to the public as “one of the authorities of the State Service for Mobilization and Conscription for Military Service has been abolished.”
Medianews.az states that this presentation is incorrect because the military training of students of higher education institutions under a special program for training officers in Azerbaijan was abolished not recently, but 7 years ago.
On October 12, 2018, President Ilham Aliyev made amendments to the “Law on Military Duty and Military Service.” One of the changes was the complete abolition of Article 11 of the law titled “Military training of students of higher education institutions under a special program for training officers.” In other words, the process or program called military training of students of higher education institutions under a special program for training officers does not exist in Azerbaijan anymore; it was ended in 2018.
Simply, the words “military training of students of higher education institutions under a special program for training officers” remained in paragraph 1.1 of the “Regulations on the State Service for Mobilization and Conscription for Military Service,” and only now—in 2025—are these words being removed from the regulations. The removal of these words from the regulations cannot be interpreted as the abolition of the authority of the State Service for Mobilization and Conscription for Military Service. Since the military training of students of higher education institutions under a special program for training officers has long been abolished, the State Service for Mobilization and Conscription for Military Service had no activity or authority in this field. How can there be any activity or authority over a program that does not exist?..
Toğrul Ali,
Medianews.az
