Active 1990 - March 17, 1995 Allegiance Azerbaijan Nickname(s) OPON | Country Azerbaijan Headquarters Baku | |
Branch Ministry of Internal Affairs | ||
The Special Purpose Police Unit (Azerbaijani: Xüsusi Təyinatlı Polis Dəstəsi (XTPD); Russian: Отряд милиции особого назначения - initially OMON) or OPON (Otryad Politsii Osobogo Naznacheniya) was a special forces detachment unit within the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan in the early 1990s formed during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. The first body of the unit consisted of 3,000 policemen.
The initial name of OMON was changed to OPON after the Azeri Declaration of Independence. The unit was dissolved by the government after an OPON revolt led by Colonel Rovshan Javadov on March 13, 1995. On March 17, 1995 security forces of Azerbaijan sieged and stormed the OPON headquarters in the outskirts of Baku where Javadov, along with over 50 others, was killed.