President Aliyev: It is a great honor for me to serve Azerbaijani people
President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva have met with families of martyrs at the Presidential Palace on January 28.
The President invited representatives of martyr families to the meeting and expressed deep respect to them.
‘‘Armenian-Azerbaijani NagornoKarabakh conflict settlement is the most important task for us," he said. "Restoration of the territorial integrity of our country is the most important issue. We have achieved maximum result in the diplomatic environment. Today, the whole world declares that this conflict will be resolved within the territorial integrity of our country. Numerous resolutions, decisions, agreements signed in bilateral format, declarations support the territorial integrity of our country. The world's leading international organizations - the UN, its Security Council, the Non-Aligned Movement, the OSCE, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other organizations - require that the conflict must be settled within the territorial integrity of our country. That is, we use all means to resolve the issue and release our lands from occupiers."
The President stressed that cCitizens suffering from war are under constant attention and care. "More than 100 towns and settlements have been built for IDPs in recent years. Last year alone, 5,900 IDPs were provided with apartments and individual houses. This process will continue this year. Martyrs' families are supported by the state. To date, 6,650 martyr families have been provided with state-owned apartments, houses, and more than 6,000 martyrs have been provided with cars. That is the manifestation of our state's attitude towards martyrs' families,’’ the head of state noted.
‘‘The payment process has already begun. According to information I was provided, more than 3,000 martyrs have received 11,000 manats. However, during the process, it became clear that the amount of people who received the benefits did not coincide with the amount given today. That is, in those years though the figure was big in the early 1990s - it was meant 50,000 manats at that time, but 50,000 manats of that time cannot be compared with 11,000 manats of today," Ilham Aliyev said.
"I expressed my opinion to the public on this issue. I stated that this issue should be investigated seriously and here two main factors should prevail: law and justice. On the one hand, citizens who previously received this allowance should not be included in this list, which requires laws and regulations. On the other hand, we must solve all issues fairly and address all issues from the social justice prism. Given this, I signed a new Decree today. The number of citizens who will receive 11,000 manats under this Decree is increased by 2,725 people. Of course, they are the citizens who received small amount of allowance, and in general, representatives of families of non-listed martyrs from internal affairs bodies, whose number is more than 460," he added.
The President went on to say that only in last year, 626 martyr families were given new apartments and new houses.
"This year, additional 800 martyr families will be given new apartments, houses. Over the next few years, all martyr families will be provided with houses and apartments. There will not be a martyr family, which does not receive a home or an apartment from the state.’’
Then the head of state presented the plastic cards for one-time payments to the heroes of martyred military servicemen.
Martyr's mother, Ibadet Aliyeva, expressed deep gratitude to the President for the eminent meeting with the martyr families. Noting the rapid development of the country, she expressed hope that all occupied lands will be liberated soon and all Azerbaijani cities will develop and prosper.
Summing up the meeting, Ilham Aliyev thanked for the kind words and once again underlined that it is a great honor for him to serve the people of Azerbaijan
‘‘As a president, I have always tried to serve my people with dignity and give a push to comprehensive development of Azerbaijan," he noted.
‘‘Today, Azerbaijan is one of the rapidly developing countries in the world. The economic and military potential of our country is strengthening. In particular, I should note that as a result of the successful economic policy Azerbaijan is able to implement large-scale social projects today. If we were not financially viable, if we had a bad financial situation, we would not have been able to put forward these initiatives. Citizens who received the grant were then paid less. At that time, if we converted it into dollars, the allowance was around $20-50. That is, we were able to do it, there was no capacity. Today, however, 11,000 manats is a totally another value. Therefore, the economic development of our country and the improvement of the financial situation allow us to implement many social projects. We have built more than one hundred towns with our own funds, and 6,650 families have been provided with housing. As I said, all families of martyrs will be provided with apartments, in the sequence, the program is under development," he noted.
President Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan is one of the rare countries in the world that targeted largescale social assistance program.
"This year alone, 7,000 families will be covered by self-employment program. Why? Because families without access can be provided by the government with special means that they can build small businesses for themselves. Certainly, today's policy in our country should be continued to see all this. This policy is the only correct policy. As a result of this policy, Azerbaijan has shown itself as an independent country in the world,’’ he said.
President Aliyev also noted that Jojug Marjanli has become a symbol of the nation's irresistible will.
"Rehabilitation and improvement of Jojug Marjanli was possible as a result of a military victory. We proved that in the battlefield we are better than the enemy. We have completely ruined the myth created by the Armenians, the Armenian leadership over the years. They tried to prove that they were superior to us in military terms, and so they were able to conquer our lands in the early 1990s. The Azerbaijani public is well aware of the causes of this occupation. The main reason for this is the treacherous, traumatic, incompetent, uneducated people represented in the leadership of Azerbaijan at that time. April fights showed to the entire world that Azerbaijan is a strong state, Azerbaijani soldier and officer is brave and professional. It showed that our country has a strong army and the Azerbaijani people never reconciled and will never reconcile with this occupation. Two years after the April wars, a successful Nakhchivan operation took place. An area larger, several times larger, compared to 2016, went under our control, was liberated from occupiers. Today, we control the strategic paths and communications passing through Armenia. We will further increase our military strength. We want to resolve the conflict peacefully. We do not want to give martyrs, we do not want our young people to be martyred. There must be political, economic, and military power to resolve the conflict peacefully. Today, there are three factors and they are leading our country to the future,’’ he stated.