Ilham Aliyev Declares Military Strengthening a Priority for Azerbaijan

Strengthening military power is a priority for Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev stated today  at the first session of the Milli Majlis (National Assembly) of the 7th convocation. "The number one task is to enhance our military strength. Although the Second Karabakh War and the anti-terrorist operation are behind us, ongoing global processes, the emergence of new conflict hotspots, wars, and escalating tensions around us, as well as revanchist tendencies in Armenia, compel us to continually pay attention to this area."

Another important task for the state, Aliyev noted, is the restoration of territories freed from occupation. "But if we pay less attention to the military sphere and do not ensure an adequate level of funding for it, we may face problems in the future," Aliyev said. He believes that "revanchist forces are gaining ground in Armenia." "This is not just marginal political elements; the current authorities of Armenia share similar thoughts and dreams," the president continued.

Aliyev mentioned that large-scale modernization work is being carried out at all military factories in Azerbaijan. He emphasized that Azerbaijan is currently exporting military-industrial products to dozens of countries, with the geography of exports expanding year by year. He also reported on the strengthening of the Azerbaijani army along the conditional border with Armenia.

"We are consolidating our position on the conditional border because any provocation can be expected from Armenia at any moment. The Armenian side is heavily arming itself and conducting military exercises with foreign countries, including major powers. Western countries are supplying weapons and ammunition to Armenia," he stressed. In his view, "it is quite obvious that some Western countries have plans to set Armenia against us."

At the same time, he emphasized that Azerbaijan will continue to pursue an "independent and principled foreign policy." "We have never done anything bad to anyone, and we have never interfered in anyone's affairs. But we have always taught a lesson to those who wanted to interfere in our affairs, so that they would not do so," the head of state stated.

"For any desire to cooperate with us in a bilateral format, we will respond with double willingness. But if someone thinks they can dictate to us, unjustly accuse us of something, or defame us in any way, and expect our friendship in return as if nothing happened, that is a misconception, and it will not happen," the president noted. He accused Armenia of dragging its feet on negotiations for a peace treaty.

"Since we sent our first draft to Armenia, there have been ten exchanges of comments. After several months, we naturally expected Armenia to provide its comments more promptly. But we see that everything is happening quite the opposite. We had to wait 70 days before receiving their latest version. All unresolved issues were removed from their version of the peace treaty. This primitive and inadequate step, frankly, was unexpected." The head of state emphasized that "a number of factors give reason to say that Armenia does not really want peace but rather seeks to drag out the time."