UAE special forces train in Türkiye, Azerbaijan

Members of the UAE's Presidential Guard with Azerbaijani special forces soldiers at a training facility west of Baku during Exercise ‘Indestructible Partnership 2025'. (Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Azerbaijan)

Personnel from the United Arab Emirates' (UAE's) elite Presidential Guard have trained with counterparts from Türkiye's Special Forces Command (ÖKK), the Turkish Ministry of National Defense (MSB) announced on 23 October.

It said the VIP protection and joint special forces training took place in Menteş near İzmir and Gölbaşı near Ankara.

It released a video showing inflatable boat and diver training at a location that could be identified as the National Defence University's training facility at Menteş on the coast of the Gulf of İzmir.

VIP protection training was shown at the ÖKK base south of Gölbaşı, which included the use of the new NMS-L, a lighter pickup version of Nurol Makina's Yörük/NMS 4×4 armoured vehicle, and FNSS' Pars IV 6×6 special operations vehicle. Both types were fitted with signal jammers.

Another Presidential Guard unit was deployed at the same time to Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 22 October that personnel from the force's Special Operations Command were participating in the ‘Indestructible Partnership 2025' joint special forces exercise and released photographs showing 23 Emirati soldiers at a training base that could be identified as one west of Baku.

The UAE MoD did not report either exercise.