Azerbaijani President: "During the war, they wanted to introduce sanctions against us"

Azerbaijani President: "During the war, they wanted to introduce sanctions against us"
# 14 April 2021 13:42 (UTC +04:00)

"While showing a principled approach at the negotiating table, we were also creating a powerful army. Throughout these 17 years, military spending has been our main budgetary expenditure" said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said as he attended the inauguration of the Military Trophy Park in Baku on April 12, APA reports.

"We have achieved our goal. The combat capability of our army has strengthened and increased, our army was provided with modern weapons, ammunition and equipment. In order to avoid dependence on one country, we acquired this equipment from many sources. To achieve this, it was necessary to have close ties with partner countries because the arms market is very sensitive. Commercial and business interests don’t decide everything there. Political interests do! We acquired equipment and weapons from partner countries, so that if something happens to equipment from one source, then we will still have reserve capabilities, and the second Karabakh war proved this.

We needed to prepare for the second Karabakh war, and we did. Political stability and civil unity were secured. With the support of the people, very confident reforms were carried out and the situation on the political plane improved. On the international plane, international organizations adopted important decisions and resolutions that met our interests. When I talked about this in previous years, some thought that such documents may have been adopted, but all this was to no avail. We see the result today. Everyone can see it. Apart from the UN Security Council resolutions, there were no serious documents. A resolution of the UN General Assembly, resolutions of the Non-Aligned Movement, of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, of the European Parliament. Even the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which is always hostile to us, had to demonstrate support for our territorial integrity. All this created a political and legal basis. If it hadn’t been for all this, the anti-Azerbaijan initiative of the Minsk Group co-chair countries in the UN could have manifested itself during the war. Everyone should know this. Many are not aware. During the war, they wanted to introduce sanctions against us. We are fighting on our own land. We are restoring our territorial integrity. The introduction of sanctions against us would have been an injustice, a dishonesty. Who organized it? Minsk Group co-chair countries. Who prevented this? Countries that are friendly to us, the member states of the Non-Aligned Movement, because we, as the country chairing the Non-Aligned Movement, acted with dignity, helped these countries, provided them with both financial and humanitarian support. In connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, we provided humanitarian and financial assistance to more than 30 countries. We defended their interests, so they, in turn, supported us. True, even if this or that resolution had been adopted, it could not have stopped us. Nobody and nothing could have stopped us. I repeatedly addressed the people during the war and I said that the enemy should get out of our lands, and I would stop the war. Therefore, it was necessary to make proper preparations in the international plane, to make preparations economically. If we were dependent on a country or an international financial institution, could we have waged a war? Of course not! They put so much pressure on us, threatened us and tried to limit our opportunities!" President said.

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