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President Ilham Aliyev: â€œAzerbaijani Armed Forces are the strongest army of the regionâ€

26 June 2008 10:58 (UTC +04:00)

The head of state congratulated Azerbaijani People on this occasion and called the formation of the army as a remarkable day in the countryâ€™s history, APA reports. The President said while Azerbaijan restoring its state independence in 1991 the formation of the National Army became a necessity. â€œUnfortunately Azerbaijan couldnâ€™t establish its regular army in the first years of independence. The army-building process began only in 1993, when the nationwide leader Heydar Aliyev returned to Azerbaijanâ€™s leadership. The state-building process was carried out very rapidly thank to Heydar Aliyevâ€™s extraordinary meritsâ€.
The President said all necessary measures were taken today to make the army strongest and professionalism was increasing. â€œI am very glad that today Azerbaijani Army meets the highest standardsâ€. Ilham Aliyev said alongside with the professionalism, the material and technical basis of the army was also strengthened and great work had been done in this direction. â€œAzerbaijanâ€™s military expenditures were less for ten times in 2003. Today Azerbaijanâ€™s total military expenditures are more than 2 billion dollars. The military expenditures take first place in the Governmentâ€™s budget and I am sure it will be so furtherâ€.
The head of state noted that he supported the local production of ammunitions and military technical equipments the Azerbaijani Army needed. â€œIt needs to bring new technologies in the country, to train professionals and to allocate necessary financial resources for that. Azerbaijan has all these factorsâ€.
Ilham Aliyev said military expenses were equal to the government expenditures and noted that the expenses would be increased more. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief noted that Azerbaijan was at war, the war had not finished yet and said:
â€œWe should be ready to liberate our lands, for this purpose we establish a strong army.â€
Touching upon the long-lasting negotiations on the settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijani People got tired of these negotiations.
â€œWe consider that the negotiations cannot be held eternally. Of course, there are improvements in the process of negotiations. The proposals discussed now are based on the principles of Azerbaijanâ€™s territorial integrity. The proposals on the table do not contain any mechanisms for separating Nagorno Karabakh from Azerbaijanâ€, he said.
The President stated Armenia ignored international legal norms and added that Azerbaijan intended to continue the negotiations.
â€œI am sure that we will mobilize all our efforts and achieve our goal by strengthening our diplomatic, economic and military policy. Justice, international community, economic opportunities, military power are in favor of usâ€, he said.
The President said Azerbaijani Army was the strongest army of the region and underlined that all steps would be taken to strengthen the army.
Ilham Aliyev regarded the military parade as a great event and congratulated the personnel of the Armed Forces and Azerbaijani People on this day.