“The brave and heroic sons of the Azerbaijani people have protected their land from the enemy with great wisdom throughout history and fought resolutely against the invaders. For them, the highest feeling was the love of the Motherland, and they did not hesitate to risk their lives on this path. History proves that even the most powerful empires were shaken by the national liberation struggle of the brave sons and daughters of the people of Azerbaijan and accelerated their downfall. This chronicle of heroism, which we inherited from our ancestors, is one of our greatest national and spiritual treasures. It is for this reason that today the strength and power of the Azerbaijani Army is the language of the world, and its glory has spread everywhere. The epic of heroism written by our soldiers and officers goes hand in hand, is deeply researched and studied.”
Sattar Mohbaliyev, chairman of the Azerbaijan Trade Unions Confederation (ATUC), member of the Milli Majlis, expressed these views to the mass media.
According to him, Heydar Aliyev came to life for great things, he was born for his people: “His name is among the rare personalities who created a state in world history. Therefore, the founder of our invincible army, which is one of the main pillars of our state, is Great Leader Heydar Aliyev. He was still thinking about this when he was in charge of Soviet Azerbaijan and took important steps to train local military personnel. Thanks to his hard work and determination, the establishment of the military high school named after Jamshid Nakhchivanski in 1971 was a historic event. This made it possible to increase the interest in military art in our republic and train officers. After the independence, that school became the main base in the construction of the Army. The vast majority of the national military personnel were made up of its cadets.”
“In the first years of our independence, the process of building the Army was very slow, political conflicts, struggles for power, anarchy, chaos did not allow the creation of a regular army. Defeats continued at the front. At such a difficult moment, Great Leader Heydar Aliyev, who returned to power at the call of the people, abolished the disorderly armed groups and started the process of building a regular army, and new military units were created in a short period of time. Confidence in the army increased, fighting spirit rose. The result of this was the successful “Horadiz” operation, in which a number of our occupied territories were liberated, and a crushing blow was delivered to the enemy. Also, this operation had a significant impact on the course of the conflict, the enemy was forced to sign a cease-fire agreement. After this agreement, the process of formation of the Azerbaijan National Army became more widespread, the material and technical provision was improved, and the moral and psychological training of soldiers and officers was increased. Cooperation with NATO since 1994, the participation of our servicemen in the programs of this military-political organization and the adoption of the latest military innovations, as well as experience in the peacekeeping forces, turned the Azerbaijan Army into a modern army,” said the deputy of the Milli Majlis.
The chairman of ATUC stressed that the head of State, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, who successfully continues the political line of the great leader Heydar Aliyev in all areas, has achieved great achievements in the military sphere: “the professionalism, moral and psychological training of the servicemen has been improved, the supply of our Army with modern weapons and equipment has been strengthened. As a result of these steps, the Azerbaijani army was among the first in the South Caucasus and the first fifty armies in the world in international reports. Both our enemies and their patrons became aware of the power of our fire in the April battles of 2016. Our army, which counterattacked in response to military provocations, within a few hours cleared more than 2 thousand hectares of land from the enemy and took control of thousands of hectares. This victory gave our people a new spirit, increased confidence that our lands would be completely cleansed of the enemy. He also showed our enemies that they would not be able to snatch any concessions from Azerbaijan. We can safely say that the April battles shed a bright light on our path to victory, ensured our psychological superiority over the enemy.”
“With this victory, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, which, under the leadership of Supreme Commander-In-Chief Mr. Ilham Aliyev, cleared Eastern Zangezur and Karabakh from the aggressive enemy in just 44 days, changed the course of history, created new realities in the region and thwarted all insidious plans for our country. Today, every representative of our people is proud of his glorious army, which made him victorious, and treats his soldiers and officers with great respect. We can say with confidence that our society exhibits the highest attitude towards them, because all the personnel of our Army are heroes of this people,” Sattar Mohbaliyev said.
The chairman of the ATUC added that after the Patriotic War, significant work was done to further strengthen the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan: “on the instructions of the president, new commando military units were created, which consist of professional military personnel with high physical and combat training. On June 23, Supreme Commander-in-chief Ilham Aliyev reviewed the conditions created in one of the commando military units of the Ministry of Defense and presented the battle flag to the military unit. In his speech, the president stated that we are significantly increasing and will increase our combat capability. This allows the defense of our country to be stronger, our territories, independence and statehood to be reliably protected. A worthy and consistent response to the military provocations committed by Armenia after the war shows the growing strength of our victorious army.”