(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 8. By liberating the
impregnable fortress of Shusha from Armenian Occupation two years
ago, the armed forces of Azerbaijan wrote a glorious page in our
history, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Victorious
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev said, speaking
to the servicemen following the event organized on the occasion of
the Victory Day in Shusha on November 8, reports.
The speech by President Ilham Aliyev:
- Dear servicemen.
I congratulate you and all the people of Azerbaijan on Victory
Day.
First of all, may I ask that we remember the dear memory of our
martyrs who died for the Motherland with a minute of silence.
A minute of silence was observed in memory of the martyrs.
President Ilham Aliyev: May Allah rest the
souls of all our martyrs in peace.
By liberating the impregnable fortress of Shusha from Armenian
occupation two years ago, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan wrote a
glorious page in our history. This glorious history will stay with
us forever. The people of Azerbaijan and future generations will be
rightly proud of this glorious Victory.
Shusha is really considered an impregnable fortress. When Shusha
was liberated by our heroic soldiers armed only with light weapons,
they were prepared to die. They were prepared to die for the
Motherland, for our lands. We all understood perfectly well that
our complete victory would not be possible without Shusha.
In my numerous interviews during the war, I disclosed some
aspects regarding the progress of war. Of course, I could not say
everything. I couldn't reveal too many things, especially about
future plans. In response to a question, I only said once that our
victory would be incomplete without Shusha. I am sure that the
people of Azerbaijan understood perfectly well that our ultimate
goal, the ultimate goal of the war, was to liberate Shusha from
occupation. Not only because Shusha is the crown jewel of Karabakh.
Not because the strategic location of Shusha actually determined
the outcome of the war after its liberation. I said that because
Shusha is the heart and soul of the Azerbaijani people, it is a
sacred place for every Azerbaijani. Every time I am in Shusha – I
have been to Shusha more than 10 times in the last two years –
every time I approach Shusha along Victory Road, I am sure that
everyone can see the heroism, dedication and professionalism of our
soldiers. Because the road we call“Victory Road” was built only
two years ago. Our heroic children have covered this long distance
through mountains, forests, valleys and paths, defeated the enemy
in bloody battles and approached Shusha. After that, they climbed
steep rocks, defeated the enemy in street battles, city battles, in
hand-to-hand battles armed only with light weapons, expelled them
from our land, and hoisted our tricolor flag in Shusha. Only two
years have passed since that historic day, and many events have
happened in those two years. Over the years, the heroism of our
servicemen will become increasingly obvious to everyone.
The road to Shusha began on 27 September. From the first day to
the last day of the war, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan only
marched forward. They did not take a single step back for 44
consecutive days. However, we know from the military history of the
world that in such difficult wars, especially in wars fought in
unfavorable natural terrain conditions, there are maneuvers, steps
back and unexpected events. However, it was the strong resolve, the
love of the Motherland and the professionalism of our soldiers that
led us to Victory. When six villages were liberated on 27
September, on the first day of the war, the people of Azerbaijan
became even more convinced that we would achieve what we wanted and
complete our historic mission.
We only moved forward for 44 days. Prior to Shusha, many of our
towns and villages, including Jabrayil, Hadrut, Fuzuli, Zangilan,
Gubadli, Sugovushan, about 300 villages, a part of Lachin and
Kalbajar, were liberated on the battlefield. The liberation of
Shusha broke the back of the Armenian army. As a matter of fact,
Armenia was in panic from the first days of the war. In some cases,
it was gripped by panic and hysteria. This is exactly why there
were more than 10,000 deserters in the Armenian army, according to
their own admission. There was not a single deserter in the
Azerbaijan Army. This indicates the high moral qualities of our
people. Our soldiers were prepared to die. They fought under the
slogan“we would rather die than retreat”. There wasn't a single
deserter. This is true heroism of our people. It goes to show that
such a wonderful young generation has grown up, many of whom had
never even seen Karabakh and Zangazur. They were approaching this
sacred land they had only seen on television and photographs and
heard about from their parents and elders. However, they came here
and fulfilled the historic mission of our people with dignity.
The road to victory was turbulent and difficult. Defeat in the
first Karabakh war had dealt a severe moral blow to our nation. The
reasons for that defeat are clear. At that time, anti-national
elements seized power, were fighting for power. They practically
surrendered the impregnable fortress of Shusha to Armenia, to the
Armenians in order to come to power, and this is exactly what
happened. The Popular Front-Musavat tandem did come to power one
month after Shusha and Lachin were occupied. They came to power on
the heels of this tragedy, on the heels bloodshed, national
disgrace, and in the one year they stayed in power, they devastated
the whole country, instigated a civil war and took their own
soldiers prisoner. The lands were being lost, but they engaged in
looting and robbery. They mobilized all their efforts to reinforce
their power.
In other words, defeat in the first Karabakh war was inevitable.
Because an anti-national government can't win the war. Throughout
the years of occupation, Armenia's official propaganda and the
media resources of their patrons attempted to circulate an idea in
the world and, at the same time, with the people of Azerbaijan that
Azerbaijan could never restore its territorial integrity through
war. It would be enough to look at the speeches of representatives
of international organizations and officials of countries dealing
with this issue. They have said so many times that there is no
military solution to this war, to this conflict. First of all, they
tried to convince us of that. Secondly, they tried to prevent us
from resolving the issue by military means. Of course, we also
tried to resolve this issue peacefully, but resolve it. But we saw
that the tactic of negotiations was leading to the issue being
frozen, and, of course, we could never agree to that.
Finally, the people of Azerbaijan united as a fist and fulfilled
their historic mission. The road to war has taken many directions.
First of all, we had to equip our army with the necessary weapons
and hardware ourselves. A strong economy was also necessary for
this. When Azerbaijan regained independence, our financial and
economic situation was extremely difficult. Therefore, building a
strong economy was considered an important factor in winning the
war, and we did that. Our economy has strengthened, we are living
at our own expense, we don't need anyone's help, we don't depend on
anyone, we are building our own life to the best of our abilities,
and we are doing well.
The economic processes, difficulties and crises taking place in
different parts of the world show that the economy of Azerbaijan is
stable. A country that has come out of such a difficult war has
been carrying out large-scale construction work in liberated
territories for two years. The financial source of all this work is
our state budget. Over the course of the past two years, we have
not received a single manat of aid from any country, organization
or donor. Of course, if anyone wants to help us, we wouldn't mind.
But no-one is helping us, and no-one will. A strong economy is one
of the key factors in building an army. We did it, we created it
and we completely eliminated economic dependence. If we were
economically dependent on anyone, we could not successfully end the
war.
At the same time, we had to expose Armenia's policy of
aggression. Unfortunately, international media controlled by
Armenia, bent politicians, their patrons abroad, the Armenian lobby
– they had created an opinion that Azerbaijan is an aggressor. When
Azerbaijani lands were occupied, some countries imposed sanctions
against us. In other words, we did not actually use our diplomatic
opportunities. Therefore, we had to prove to the whole world that
we are right, that justice is on our side, that international law
is on our side. This is why we were very active at the
international level. Leading international organizations such as
the UN, the OSCE, the European Union, the Non-Aligned Movement, the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Council of Europe have
adopted decisions and resolutions in support of our position, i.e.
decisions supporting justice. That created a very important
international legal framework.
In parallel with that, we established the relations of close
cooperation with many countries in a bilateral format both in our
region and on other continents. Nine member states of the EU alone
have signed strategic partnership declarations with Azerbaijan.
This is a third of the European Union member countries. There are
also other countries. So these international relations and the
international reputation of Azerbaijan allowed us the opportunity
to gain more friends. At the same time, we were able to convey and
conveyed the truth of Karabakh and the Armenian occupation to the
world community. On the whole, the international attitude towards
the 44-day war was positive. It is true that some pro-Armenian
countries and countries with close relations with Armenia tried to
take some political steps against us. But they failed to produce
any result. Because we have secured strong international support
over the years. We were elected as chair of the Non-Aligned
Movement. Our chairmanship was approved by a unanimous decision.
Our chairmanship was extended for another year by a unanimous
decision as well. We are talking of an international institution
that brings together the greater part of the world community. A
total of 120 countries are members of this institution. We have
established close relations with Muslim countries and managed to
explain to them that Armenia pursues an aggressive policy not only
against us, but also against the entire Muslim world. A country
destroying mosques cannot be friends with Muslim countries. Can
leaders of Muslim countries open their arms to embrace those
destroying mosques? Can they hug and kiss them? This is nothing but
hypocrisy. This is betrayal. It has no other name. This is why we
have isolated Armenia from the key pillars of the Muslim world. It
is true that we could not isolate them completely, and there are
other reasons for this – hypocrisy, as I said. By and large,
however, Armenia has become known in the Muslim world as a country
destroying and desecrating mosques, and this was done by us.
We have conducted a very active policy on patriotic issues.
Educating the younger generation in the spirit of patriotism was
one of the main directions of my policy as President, and we have
achieved it. Our young people are patriotic and attached to the
Motherland, and the second Karabakh war has demonstrated this. I
want to say again that our young people who had never seen Karabakh
were prepared to die for Karabakh. They were actually facing death.
The ideas of national unity and national solidarity prevailed in
our society. At the same time, all the peoples living in Azerbaijan
became even more united as a result of the policy I conducted. I
have said this many times but I say it again today that we are a
big family. All peoples living in Azerbaijan are members of one big
family. We are together in good times and in bad times, and this
unity is a rare asset worldwide. Take a look at other countries: we
see dissatisfaction, conflicts, mistrust on national, religious and
ethnic grounds. What do we see in Azerbaijan – unity, brotherhood
and friendship! All peoples living in Azerbaijan were prepared to
die for Karabakh. This is a tremendous asset. We must always
protect and strengthen this asset. The second Karabakh war further
reinforced our national solidarity and national unity. It further
strengthened our country. We have shaken this heavy burden off our
shoulders, we have got rid of this stigma. We can now hold our head
high and speak with dignity at any event and in any format. We are
living as a proud, dignified and victorious people. We owe it to
you and tens of thousands of servicemen like you. The people of
Azerbaijan know and appreciate this.
Of course, in order to succeed in the war, we had to implement
very important projects, and we did. Today, it would be enough to
look at the energy and transport maps of the world and our region
to see how much benefit the projects implemented on our initiative
have brought to our country and to our partners. There are dozens
of countries participating in transport and energy projects we have
initiated. These projects will gain even more momentum at the
current stage, and all these countries are our natural friends and
allies. At the same time, these projects have generated additional
financial opportunities for us. First of all, we channeled these
financial opportunities into strengthening our military potential.
If we look at state budget expenditure during my presidency, we
will see that military spending has been in the first place. It is
in the first place. However, the country has other needs as well.
We had also resolved the problems of nearly one million internally
displaced persons, providing them with new houses. Social matters,
salaries, pensions – we had to increase them and we did increase
them. We wanted and still want to increase them even more. But
first of all, we gave greater financial support to the army, to the
road leading us to Victory. It is still the case today.
Azerbaijan's state budget for the next year has reached a record
high, including the funds allocated for military purposes. One may
wonder why. After all, the war is over and two years have passed.
The answer is very simple. Revanchist forces are rising in Armenia.
Forces and circles reluctant to come to terms with the results of
the war are emerging in Armenia. Armenia does not fully comply with
the 10 November 2020 Statement. It has yet to fully withdraw its
armed forces from Karabakh, it has yet to make the Zangazur
corridor available to us. It occasionally commits military
provocations against us. Of course, we have to be prepared and we
are.
I can say that our Armed Forces have grown even stronger in the
last two years. Structural reforms have been conducted, new units
have been established, the number of existing formations has been
increased, they have been supplied with weaponry, ammunition and
new equipment at the highest possible level. The current Azerbaijan
Army is stronger than the Azerbaijan Army two years ago, and
everyone should know this. Armenia and everyone else should know
this!
This is why the road to Victory passed through different
directions. Of course, the creation of strong Armed Forces was the
top priority, and we did that. In parallel with this, many years of
domestic stability, peace and security in the country certainly
strengthened us even more. Because let me say this again. I never
want to draw any comparisons but it is impossible to hide anything
in today's world. Everything is in plain sight – many countries are
struggling with domestic problems, many countries are facing
internal crises, mutual distrust, disruption of public order, a gap
between the people and the government. What do we see here in
Azerbaijan – domestic stability, national unity, national
solidarity, unity between the people and the government. This is a
great result of our policy. All our steps, including all my steps
as President from 2003 to this day have been aimed at strengthening
Azerbaijan. Before the Patriotic War, all my steps served the sole
purpose of liberating our lands, expelling the enemy from our
lands, and we succeeded in doing that. I said during the
occupation, in fact, I said several times that each of us should
bring the day of liberation, this holy day closer with our work,
and we brought it closer and closer. We dealt such a crushing blow
to the enemy that they are still unable to recover from it. Look at
the processes going on in Armenia. They are now spewing their anger
and poison at each other. Notice the processes taking place in the
past two years.
Armenia should not forget the lessons of the second Karabakh
war. They should remember that playing with fire will cost them
dearly. If anyone there, be it the government, the opposition or
some element sent or trained from abroad, wants to have some bad
intentions against us again, they will see our fist again. The
history of the last two years has shown this clearly. Even this
year, the Farrukh operation, the Revenge operation, the 13-14
September events on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border – all these
should serve as another lesson for Armenia. We have taught them
this lesson, and we hope that they finally understand it, bend
their necks and deal with their internal affairs, not set their
sights on our lands, not set their sights on Karabakh. Karabakh is
our land. Russian peacekeepers are stationed there temporarily, the
10 November 2020 Statement specifies their term, and if they rely
on anyone, they will face another tragedy.
We always respect all international agreements. We are a fair
people and a fair country. If we have made a commitment, we will
fulfill it. We are fulfilling all the obligations we undertook in
the 10 November 2020 Statement. We have been fulfilling them for
two years, but is Armenia doing the same? No! Immediately after the
second Karabakh war, they were simply so afraid that they fulfilled
those provisions without a single shot being fired, and the
occupied territories of Aghdam, Kalbajar and Lachin districts were
returned to us. If he hadn't returned them, we would have smashed
their heads again. But what next? Then they started biding the time
again. I want to say again that this commitment has not yet been
fully fulfilled. What are the Armenian armed forces doing in
Karabakh? Our patience is not inexhaustible, and I want to warn
them again that if this obligation is not fulfilled, Azerbaijan
will take necessary steps.
The Zangazur corridor is the responsibility of Armenia. It has
taken this commitment upon itself. For two years, we have not been
touching the cars moving from Armenia to Karabakh and in the
opposite direction along the Lachin road. We have taken on this
committed, we are delivering on it, and there is free movement.
Armenia has also undertaken to have a road connection between the
western regions of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous
Republic. Two years have passed, but there is no feasibility study,
no movement, no railway, no road. How much longer are we supposed
to wait?
The events of 13-14 September did not happen just like that. Of
course, Armenia has committed another military provocation against
us. But our response was also very effective. Our response could
have been a little less harsh if they had followed through on their
commitments. Our response could have been even harsher if we wanted
a new war. We don't want that, we don't want bloodshed. We simply
want respect for our rights.
After the 13-14 September operation, the Armed Forces of
Azerbaijan were stationed at key strategic heights in the direction
of the Azerbaijan-Armenia border. Armenia should understand what
this means. We can see the cities of Garakilsa, Gafan, Gorus and
Istisu from those strategic heights now. We are on the shores of
Lake Small Goycha. Lake Big Goycha is also within our sight. All
these are realities. We created these realities after the Patriotic
War. Why? First of all, in response to the military provocations of
Armenia and, on the other hand, to insure ourselves against
military provocations in the future. Because most of the Armenian
posts are visible from the heights I mentioned, and if there is a
concentration of forces there, we will see it and take immediate
action. At the same time, Armenia does not fulfill its
international obligations. Armenia was defeated in the second
Karabakh war and its army was crushed. A defeated country cannot
act like this. Therefore, all our steps are justified. It is true
that some of Armenia's foreign patrons want to accuse us of
something. I have given their answer. If they crow again, I will
answer them yet again. It won't stop me. But the fact is that we
demand our rights, and the fact that Azerbaijan is right is not
questioned by major international actors.
In short, for the two years since the war, we have continued our
policy. We have undertaken extensive construction work in two
years. We are actually rebuilding Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur,
and we will rebuild it. At the same time, we are strengthening and
will continue to strengthen our Army. Armenia should understand
that it is not the statements by some Armenian patron that keep us
within the current frames, but our own policy. We are not afraid of
anyone. We are not scared of anyone. If we were afraid of someone,
we would never have started the second Karabakh war. Every single
one of us was prepared to die. We would rather die than retreat.
Freedom or death! Now we are prepared to die for our rights.
Because even though the war ended two years ago, there are
disturbing moments. I want to appeal to the Armenian people and say
my word. They are now reaping the fruits of the 30 years of
occupation. They are now experiencing what occupation and losses
are. We simply responded to them. We fought on our own lands. We
have ousted the aggressor from our lands. They need to understand
this so that they do not become a victim of the circles who sit
abroad and want to treat this region as a playground for the second
time. We have the main say here. We have the main power here. Our
Army has shown heroism, professionalism and dedication. If
necessary, we will show it again, we will achieve what we want,
everyone knows this, and those who conduct military exercises in
support of Armenia on our border should also know this. Nobody can
scare us. If Armenia wants to conduct a good neighborhood policy,
it should first fulfill all the provisions of the 10 November 2020
Statement. It should be sincere in peace negotiations with
Azerbaijan. It should not artificially delay time, it should not
wait for some miracle that someone will come and fight instead of
them. No-one will come and fight instead of them, but even if
someone does come and fight, they will be confronted by the
Azerbaijan Army.
We want peace, we don't want war, peace, but a fair peace. The
terms we are putting forward are fair, are based on international
law, and the peace treaty should be signed on the basis of these
terms. If Armenia shows goodwill, it will be signed, if not, it
will not be signed. Time will tell what happens next.
All these words I said have one source – our strong will and
Victory in the Patriotic War! This Victory allows us the
opportunity to say these words to everyone, to those who despise
us. This Victory gave us this opportunity, gave confidence and
spirit to all our people. We have restored not only our territorial
integrity but also our national dignity. Therefore, dear soldiers,
we are indebted to you, we are indebted to tens of thousands of
soldiers and officers like you, and the people of Azerbaijan know
this very well. I am proud of you as Commander-in-Chief.
Servicemen: Long live the
Commander-in-Chief!
President Ilham Aliyev: Long live Karabakh!
Long live Azerbaijan!