"Our plans were fully implemented in the second Karabakh war. I have touched upon this issue several times, but I want to say it again today. Because it is too early in the day to talk about all the operations we carried out during the war. But one of my most important instructions was to achieve the goal we set when planning and carrying out operations with minimal losses. I think we have achieved this," said President Ilham Aliyev at a ceremony to give out apartments and cars to families of martyrs and war disabled in Khojasan settlement, Binagadi district, Baku.
"Yes, we have about three thousand martyrs. The life of each of them is very valuable. But we should also know that our losses in the war could have been even greater. It is because the counter-attacking party usually incurs more losses – at least three to four times greater than the defending side. The military will know this better. On the other hand, the natural terrain of the liberated lands was very unfavorable for us. It was favorable for the opposing party. They had all the strategic heights. Of course, the fortifications they had built over 30 years, the six lines of defense, and the engineering work they had done gave them a great advantage. They thought that we could never break through these lines of defense, these fortifications, these mountains. But they were wrong, they made a big mistake. They did not know that the people of Azerbaijan have been living with one mission for 30 years: to liberate our lands from occupiers at any cost. We lived with this mission. It was not only the professionalism, heroism, and military equipment of our servicemen that led us to victory – it was also the love of the Motherland that led us to victory. The key factor, the primary factor was the love of our country," the head of state said.