When I was first elected, I said we would take back our historical lands from enemy at any cost - President Aliyev

By Trend

When I was first elected president in 2003, I addressed the people of Azerbaijan and said that we would take back our historical lands from the enemy at any cost – whether through peace or war, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev said, making a speech in front of the servicemen in Shusha, Trend reports.

“And so it happened. Many years of peace talks did not yield any results. The result was zero. On the contrary, the enemy became completely presumptuous. Whereas the Azerbaijani people and myself still had some hope for negotiations in the first years of occupation, those hopes were completely dashed in recent years. Armenia and its supporters wanted to perpetuate this occupation. They believed that if they were able to occupy our lands for about 30 years, they would continue to occupy them forever," said the president.

"But they made a mistake. They should have known that we would never come to terms with this situation. They should have known that we would drive the enemy out of our lands at any cost. We had to be ready for this as a people and as a state. All preparations had to be made on time, and they were. As you know, army building and strengthening of our military potential were my priority tasks as president, and it is no coincidence that the biggest state budget expenditures have been intended for military purposes during my presidency," President Aliyev said.

"Over the years, we have created strong military and technical capacity. The most modern weapons, ammunition and equipment were brought to our country, and this equipment was used properly by the military. The second Karabakh war is a clear proof of this. The combat capability of our army has greatly increased. Regular military exercises were held, and the equipment, morale and combat capability of our army were greatly enhanced,” the head of state said.