Is the Azerbaijani Chief of General Staff retired, fired or hospitalised?

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported that the chief of the general staff of the country’s armed forces, Najmeddin Sadykov, is currently not in the military service.

The page for this position on the website of the Ministry of Defense is empty, although there has been no presidential decree to dismiss Sadykov. What’s happening?

Immediately after the outbreak of hostilities in Karabakh on September 27, 2020, rumors spread on Azerbaijani social media that Sadykov had been removed from his post, but there was no official confirmation.

A few days later, the page of the Chief of General Staff was blank on the website of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. It is still empty.

No explanation was provided.

On January 28, 2021, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan broke the silence about the chief of the General Staff – after the appearance of new rumors about Najmeddin Sadykov.

Social media users write that he is in Moscow for health reasons and has undergone heart surgery.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement that Najmeddin Sadykov is currently not in the military service. But again no details are given.

Najmeddin Sadykov was born in 1956 in the city of Derbent, Republic of Dagestan, RF. It should be noted that the commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, Rustam Muradov, also hails from the Derbent region of Dagestan.
Sadykov has been the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan since 1993.