Ilham Aliyev spoke in defense of the army

Against the backdrop of violent protests against the soldiers' deaths, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made a speech in defense of the army.

On Tuesday, at a cabinet meeting on the results of 2012, Aliyev touched upon issues of armaments.

He reported that in 2012, allocations from the state budget on defense amounted to 3 billion dollars, and in 2013 - reached $ 3.7 billion, while the total budget of Armenia was at least $ 2 billion.

However, Aliyev said that the army-building is not only the logistics, but also the professionalism and discipline.

He noted the need to improve the professionalism and discipline.

In his view, the military is a part of society, and in it, as in other areas there are shortcomings and mistakes.

However, as suggested by Aliyev, the main thing is that the shortcomings and errors are detected and the state takes steps to address them.

Stating that the Azerbaijani army in the South Caucasus is a leading military power, Aliyev said: "Our army has achieved great results. We will never allow anti-national elements to tarnish our army and throw a shadow on it. I as commander in chief would never allow it. Azerbaijani people also would not allow it, and will give an adequate response to the elements, casting a shadow over our military."

Recall that the public was excited after the spread in the media and social networks of the photo of Private Jeyhun Gubadov who died on January 7. On the body of the soldier there are visible wounds, which may be signs of violence.

Through the social network Facebook on 12 January in Baku was declared a protest against the deaths of soldiers, which was the most uncoordinated mass demonstration in Azerbaijan since 2005. -06D -