It is the exclusive right of Azerbaijan to restore its territorial integrity. It legally expelled the invader Armenia from Karabakh and surrounding areas. Naturally, the citizens of the country are celebrating and talking about this victory and promoting this success. As a result of Armenians' joint activities with their sponsors, Azerbaijani lands have been occupied, thousands of Azerbaijanis have become refugees and displaced persons. Their social status is already changing, which has formed a new geopolitical reality in the South Caucasus. The situation has begun to affect the international security system.
After the Second Karabakh War, positive factors were perceived in France's attitude, one of Armenia's main sponsors, towards Azerbaijan. In a congratulatory letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the Novruz holiday, US President Joseph Biden wrote: "My administration will work with Azerbaijan to address common security concerns and regional reconciliation."
Azerbaijan can be proud of its achievements. President Ilham Aliyev touched upon the victory in all his speeches in this direction. In his pre-war speeches, at all events, including international meetings, the head of state confidently declared that Azerbaijan would liberate its lands from occupation. After November 10, it was confirmed that these were no empty words or promises. During the 44-day battle, the Azerbaijani soldier defeated the hostile army and seized military equipment and weapons as a trophy.
At a meeting with servicemen awarded at the opening of the Military Trophy Park on April 12, President Ilham Aliyev spoke about the factors underlying the victory in the Great Patriotic War. At the meeting, the head of state also touched upon issues important for Azerbaijan's socio-political, military, and economic life. First of all, we should note that holding the meeting on the New Boulevard was not accidental. It has a symbolic meaning. The new boulevard embodies the power, economic power, innovation, and modernity of Azerbaijan, the state care and attention to its citizens. In this area, the Military Trophy Park demonstrates Azerbaijan's victory in the Patriotic War, our country's strength.
Development, power, love of country, and innovations are the basis of Azerbaijan's victory in battles. The head of state combined all these factors with his well-thought policy to ensure victory. Undoubtedly, one of the main reasons for the win is the economic issue. Azerbaijan has acquired its military equipment and ammunition from various countries at its own expense. At the meeting with the awarded servicemen, the President said: "We were creating a strong army while showing principle at the negotiating table. During all these 17 years, our main budget expenditures have been the military ones. We achieved what we wanted. The army's combat capability has been strengthened and increased, and our army has been provided with modern weapons and equipment. We have bought this equipment from many sources so as not to depend on one country. To achieve this, you need to have close contacts with partner countries since the arms market is susceptible. Not only commercial and business interests, but also political issues solve everything. We have purchased such equipment and weapons from the partner countries that if something happens to the equipment from one source, we have reserve capabilities, and the Second Karabakh War showed that."
As a result of domestic and foreign policy pursued by official Baku, the decisions and resolutions of international organizations, including the UN, ECO, and other international organizations, ensure Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. The efforts of partner and friendly countries prevent steps taken against our country. As a result of Azerbaijan's purposeful policy, Armenia has been isolated from all energy, transport and other projects, economically collapsed, and reached a stalemate.
Throughout 17 years of his presidency, Ilham Aliyev has reaffirmed that he is a reliable politician who keeps his promises and a worthy successor of his father. After his victory in the 2003 presidential election, Ilham Aliyev kept his promises to its citizens. Due to determination and well-thought policy demonstrated by the head of state, a robust Azerbaijani state is being established in the region, and national interests are protected and ensured. Promising to protect Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, President Ilham Aliyev fulfilled his promise, fully justified the people's trust, and liberated the occupied territories. Therefore, the name of Ilham Aliyev was written in golden letters in the history of Azerbaijan.
President Ilham Aliyev has kept his promises to the people during his 17 years in power. He said in his inauguration speech on April 18, 2018: "On the eve of the presidential election in 2003, I addressed the people and said that if the people trust me, I will remain loyal to the policy of the great leader Heydar Aliyev and will continue this policy. I am proud that the people believed in me, supported me, and I, in turn, kept my word. Over the past 15 years, comprehensive development has been ensured in Azerbaijan. The main condition for this is that we follow the path of the great leader. The path he has laid is the only right one, and the history of Azerbaijan's independence is a clear proof of that."
In his speech at the conference on the results of the State Program's implementation on Socio-Economic Development of the Regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2014-2018, Ilham Aliyev described the situation in the country as follows: "Azerbaijan is a place of stability and security. Recent history has clearly shown that when peace is disrupted, countries fall into a terrible, ungovernable situation, the economy collapses, the industry is paralyzed, people suffer, which takes decades to get out of this situation. The main goal of Azerbaijan's successful development model is to support the policy pursued in our country. This policy aims to improve the welfare of our people and turn our country into a strong state. As a result of this policy, today, Azerbaijan speaks openly from different parts of the world, pursues its independent policy, and fully protects its interests. Economic and political reforms in Azerbaijan, the strengthening of our country allowed us to protect ourselves from the world's risky processes. I want to say again that the primary goal of our foreign policy is to manage, reduce and eliminate possible risks from abroad. We achieve this. For the last 15 years, the Azerbaijani people have been living in peace, building and creating comfortably. I think that every patriot can be justifiably proud of his country, today's Azerbaijan. "The issues highlighted by the President are still relevant today. After the Patriotic War, the unity between the people and the government in Azerbaijan became even more substantial.
At the meeting with the awarded servicemen, President Ilham Aliyev spoke about economic independence, which is one of the critical factors of success: "Economic independence was one of the key issues, which we achieved it too. We have provided energy independence as well and implemented historical projects. Oil and gas pipelines were built in 2006-2007." The head of state stressed that Azerbaijan acquired reliable military equipment and weapons due to an independent economy: "If those pipelines were not built, we would not have so much resource. Without funds, we would not have weapons. Nobody gave us those weapons. Unlike Armenia, no one donated $5 billion. Their destroyed and looted weapons are worth $5 billion. We bought it with money. How could we get it without economic independence? How could we hold military operations? The lands could remain under the occupation of the Armenians forever. Therefore, financial independence was the key, and we prepared in this area. We had to lead Armenia into a dead end. We laid all the transport, communication, and power lines so that they were bypassed.
"How much pressure I faced - no, this line must pass through Armenia, the railway must pass through Armenia. Baku-Tbilisi-Kars should not be built, and we will not issue loans for it. I said, damn it. I have given a $725 million loan to Georgia. We achieved, we built it, Armenia has become a dead-end, which led to the beginning of mass migration from Armenia. As soon as there is migration, the market shrinks. As the market shrinks, no one will invest. One would go mad to invest in Armenia, both in those years and now. Thus, Armenia's economic collapse was one of the main tasks, I did not hide it, and we achieved it. "
The victorious war conducted by Azerbaijan has caused a great stir in the world as an example of a new war. The United States, Germany, Great Britain, and other countries with solid military potential also study the Second Karabakh War. They want to bring their armies up to modern standards and requirements. The well-known German newspaper Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), published an article about it on April 7. The article speaks about a Turkish-made unmanned aerial vehicle owned by the Azerbaijani Army. According to the newspaper, the device shocked the German army. "Germany's air defense system is weak in the face of a Turkish-made unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)."
According to the newspaper, the device shocked the German army. The article says the German Defense Ministry acknowledged that the country's air defense system was weak in preventing unmanned aerial vehicles. Defense Minister Annegret Kramp Karrenbauer has put forward some proposals to address the problem. "There is an urgent need to change the air defense system due to the threat of UAV attacks. The armed forces are not in a position to resist this situation. It was a surprise that the German army was defenseless against the UAV attack," the article reads.
The article says that Israeli and Turkish anti-aircraft missiles destroyed more than 190 tanks and armored vehicles of the Armenian Armed Forces in Karabakh and surrounding areas: "Armenian servicemen were disappointed because they were defenseless against these attacks. Such news shocked the German army."
According to the article, the US Patriot air defense system in Germany needs to be modernized in this regard: More than 13 billion euros are required to update Germany's air defense system.
From this standpoint, the Second Karabakh War showed the strength of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, destroying complex fortifications in rugged terrain, which has never had an example in the world, won this war. It also proved that it was holding the battle of the XXI century. President Ilham Aliyev also confirmed that he was a worthy son who followed his father's will. Both in the USSR and during independence, national leader Heydar Aliyev had uncomparable services to the Azerbaijani people, protecting our national interests, playing an essential role in preventing Armenia's insidious plans. Recalling his father's services, the head of state said: "The Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has not been resolved for thirty years. But our problems started before that, in 1987. With the removal of Heydar Aliyev from all positions, including a Politburo member, the Armenians had the opportunity, and they took advantage of this opportunity. Less than two weeks after Heydar Aliyev's resignation, an Armenian nationalist, Gorbachev's adviser, his right-hand man Aganbekyan, told a French newspaper in 1987 that Nagorno-Karabakh should be annexed to Armenia. Under the leadership of Heydar Aliyev, no one would ever have dared to do it. Therefore, the main target of world Armenians was Heydar Aliyev. Since they knew how long he was in office, he would never allow Armenian nationalism to rise. Just as in the 1970s and 1980s, all separatist tendencies were prevented on the spot during his rule. Now, look at the history, as if nothing has changed. We remember well what happened after that. Nagorno-Karabakh was separated from Azerbaijan. A special steering committee was set up, and a pro-Armenian man was sent from Moscow. Our problems started then. At that time, there was an ugly information campaign against Azerbaijan. The older generation remembers all this well."
Undoubtedly, the Second Karabakh War is a glorious history of the Azerbaijani people. Azerbaijan has once again reaffirmed itself globally, and Armenia is recognized in the world as a kneeling, defeated country. The current situation in the occupied territories is a clear manifestation of Armenian savagery. Armenia's ideological basis was to describe itself as a nation of culture, a great civilization, and Muslim Azerbaijan as a savage country and to achieve the formation of the respective opinion in international public opinion. However, the landscape of the occupied territories showed the opposite.
During the war, Azerbaijan showed the strength of the "iron fist" to the occupiers, their supporters, and the whole world. President Ilham Aliyev, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, said at a meeting with the awarded servicemen after visiting the Military Trophy Park on April 12: "Some revanchist forces that are rising there today should also know that the iron fist is in place, if necessary, we will crush their heads, and it will be stopped forever."
It is a clear warning to Armenia and its sponsors, who are pursuing a policy of aggression against Azerbaijan. If you make a territorial claim against Azerbaijan, you will be destroyed once and for all with an "iron fist." Therefore, the enemy must take it into account.
Thus, the historic victory in the 44-day war is the triumph of both the Azerbaijani people and the entire Turkic world. With this victory, Azerbaijan shattered the world's stereotypes about Muslim countries (defeats, decline, civil strife, lack of modern standards, etc.). Therefore, by talking about the victory in the Second Karabakh War, the insidiousness, malice, and intrigue of the occupier, its sponsors and supporters are exposed. That is why it is crucial to write and talk about it. The statements of the President of Azerbaijan on the victory are also vital in this regard.