President Aliyev: Azerbaijani army is among strong armies

The city of Shirvan is the second after Baku in the South Caucasus region from the point of view of the military-industrial complex. This is a great support for the development of Shirvan.

President Ilham Aliyev made the remark as he attended the opening of a revolver-type grenade launcher ammunition plant in Shirvan. The plant of Sharg Production Union of the Ministry of Defense Industry will produce different types of ammunition for 40x46 mm MSGL 40 revolver-type grenade launcher.

The Azerbaijani army today is one of the strongest armies. This is confirmed by the leading rating agencies. The Azerbaijani army is among the 50 strongest armies, he added.

“The army building is in a constant spotlight. The largest expenditures of our budget are military expenditures. And this is natural, because we live in war conditions,” he said.

Azerbaijan also participates with its products in all leading international military exhibitions.

“As a result, we are not only providing ourselves, we also have a wonderful export potential. In 2005, one could only think about this. Perhaps, we did not even imagine that Azerbaijan would once export military products. This is already a reality,” said the head of state.

President Aliyev said that the fighting ability and the patriotic spirit of our army are at a high level. This is clearly confirmed by the situation on the line of contact with Armenia.

“Today we have the full advantage on the contact line. We have achieved this advantage and are building it up. There have been many cases reflecting our fighting ability. It is worth to mention the last year's April fights among them. During these battles, our servicemen retaliated the military aggression of Armenia, demonstrated great heroism and liberated some of the three regions from the invaders,” he said.

One of the most tragic conflicts in the history of the 20th century, that affected the destiny of millions, aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijan’s positions.

To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talysh, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Leletepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region.

April fighting is our glorious victory, a great success, said President Aliyev.

It once again showed that the Azerbaijani people would never reconcile with the occupation.

“The return of the residents of Jojug Marjanli to this village demonstrates that all of our internally displaced people live with a dream of returning to their native towns and villages. Today, Jojug Marjanli is our symbol of rebirth and victory,” he said.

During a war in the early 1990s, when Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor, the Jojug Marjanli village was kept under occupation for several months.

Thanks to the successful military operation ‘Horadiz’, held in December 1993, more than 20 villages were liberated from the Armenian occupation, including the Jojug Marjanli village.

However, living here was risky and dangerous. The situation completely changed after the successful counter-attack of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. The village was fully liberated from the Armenian occupation in April 2016, when Azerbaijani Armed Forces prevented an Armenian provocation on the contact line. Following that, the Azerbaijani side established a full control over the village and demining operations began in the territory of the village to enable the civilians to return to their homes.

As for the ways to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the President said that the position of the Azerbaijani state is known to the public.

“We have repeatedly expressed this position. This conflict must be resolved within the territorial integrity of our country, on the basis of norms and principles of international law. There is no other way. Nagorno-Karabakh is our historical land. Our people have lived on these lands for centuries, all toponyms, all historical monuments reflect the history of Azerbaijan,” he said.

Within the visit of President Aliyev to Shirvan, he inaugurated rocketpropelled grenade launcher ammunition plant in Shirvan. The plant of Sharg Production Union of the Ministry of Defense Industry will produce four types of ammunition for RPG7V2.

The head of state also attended the opening of a military unit of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Shirvan. The construction of new buildings in the military unit began in 2012 and was completed this May. The military unit covers a total area of 8.5 hectares. There are headquarters, barracks, a canteen, a medical center and other buildings in the territory of the military unit.