Tokyo, 27 September, /AJMEDIA/
In the early 1990s, as a result of Armenia’s military aggression against Azerbaijan, almost 20 percent of our territory was occupied. As a result of the expulsion of Azerbaijanis both living in the territory of modern Armenia, but the local population, and compatriots in Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas, about one million of our compatriots were subjected to mass ethnic cleansing and other serious crimes. The Azerbaijani leadership has always stated that it will never reconcile with this occupation and is ready to use all means to liberate the lands. However, relying on its foreign patrons, the powerful Armenian lobby abroad, Armenia did not hesitate to show that it not only did not want to leave these lands, but also claimed to occupy new territories. On the contrary, he continued to play with the feelings of our people by organizing trips to the occupied territories. Of course, this could not continue, and it did. The Second Karabakh War, which began on September 27 last year and lasted only 44 days, ended with the Great Victory of Azerbaijan. On November 10, the headlines of all the world’s media said: After six weeks of fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia, an agreement was reached between the two parties to the conflict. “Azerbaijan has won a great victory.” Azerbaijan has finally restored its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The act of capitulation of the defeated Armenia was signed only a day after the liberation of Shusha by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan openly acknowledged the country’s humiliating defeat: “Armenia had no choice but to accept defeat. “Therefore, the aggressor admitted defeat and the conflict was officially stopped. Where and how did the road to victory begin? Probably, this question became the subject of research of many researchers after the great victory on November 8, 2020.Numerous scientific articles and books are being written on this topic. First of all, I can say that the President, Muzaffar Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, who won an eternal place in the hearts of our people with his wise and far-sighted policy, made it clear in his address to our people after the Great Victory. Of course, the first big step in this matter was taken by the national leader of our people Heydar Aliyev. It was the Great Leader who, after returning to power at the insistence of the people in 1993, with the help of foreign patrons prevented the Armenian army from occupying Azerbaijani lands, reached a ceasefire agreement in May 1994 to end the ongoing economic chaos and restore socio-political stability. It happened. After that, the signing of the historic “Contract of the Century”, which facilitated the export of Azerbaijan’s hydrocarbon resources to world markets, created conditions for achieving both economic and socio-political stability in the country. The successful implementation of the oil strategy, founded by the Great Leader but called a “legend” or “fantastic tale” by some blindfolded, soon boosted economic development. Construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipelines has begun, which will facilitate the export of hydrocarbon resources from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block to world markets.
Azerbaijan’s pursuit of an independent state policy and the establishment of reliable partnerships with various countries around the world have given a strong impetus to the growth of its international prestige. Azerbaijan has become an important and reliable partner in multilateral projects to which it has joined, both bilaterally and through international organizations. From this point of view, it is probably understandable if we first divide the socio-economic policy implemented in the country into two stages. That is, the period up to 2003 and the period after 2003.If we call the first stage mainly the period of restoration and laying the foundation of development, the second stage can be characterized as a period of large and rapid construction and development. The first stage is connected with the name of the great leader Heydar Aliyev, and the second stage with the name of President Ilham Aliyev, who today confirms that he is the real leader of our people with his huge transnational projects, socio-economic reforms and victories on the front.
As I mentioned, my purpose in this short article is not to analyze the great work done by two prominent statesmen whose statehood activities do not fit into several books. It is simply to create at least an initial idea of the path to great victory for our people, to inform dear readers about the important events in which I personally participated.
The point is that a long period of my journalistic activity has developed in parallel with the activity of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. For the first time, on the eve of the 2003 presidential elections, I was fortunate to accompany the future head of state on his visits to the regions of the republic in connection with the election campaign. At that time, I also participated in these campaigns as the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Azad Azerbaijan newspaper. I remember very well that in one of the districts, along with local elders and white-collar workers, we journalists were also in the forefront. Next to me stood a small woman, about 65-70 years old. After a while, the then presidential candidate Ilham Aliyev got out of the car near us and moved towards the stage set up not far from us. Of course, many at that time did not know that he was tall and tall.As she passed us, the woman looked at him in amazement and shouted, “This is Koroglu!” His words attracted the attention not only of those around him, but also of Ilham Aliyev, and he turned and looked at her with a very sincere smile and shook her hand. The heartfelt confession of that woman was etched in my memory forever.In all the moments of destiny, I have witnessed President Ilham Aliyev, in the true sense of the word, as a true national hero Koroglu, always with his people, always working for them, not leaving him alone, even in the most difficult moments.
Shortly after starting work at AZERTAC, the country’s leading news agency, I was instructed by the management to accompany the President of Azerbaijan as a special correspondent at official events. After that, I began to participate more often in the preparation of materials from events attended by the head of state, domestic and foreign visits. Coincidentally, my activity coincided with the realization of global economic projects in Azerbaijan, important international talks, world-class events, foreign visits, including extensive discussions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. If these events, which I attended in the country, allowed me to personally observe the great creative work carried out in Azerbaijan, on foreign trips I became a living witness of the events related to the realization of the international policy of our country.
At that time, a large number of experts conducting research on the great creative work, economic development and progress carried out in our country saw and appreciated that this development was also aimed at overtaking Armenia. A number of items included in the socio-economic development programs aimed at the development of all regions of Azerbaijan – construction of new health facilities, overhaul and provision of modern equipment, new defense industry facilities, military units, military plants under construction, healthy physical growth of future soldiers and Sports complexes and other preparations for war confirmed that the Azerbaijani government would not reconcile with the occupation and was preparing to liberate these territories by war when necessary. As I mentioned, what I saw at the opening ceremonies of military facilities, the production of special military equipment, weapons and explosives, the presentation of new military equipment for the military units of the Ministry of Defense gave me reason to say that the country’s leadership negotiated the occupied territories. In addition to trying to resolve it, he did not rule out war. The army building in the country, which meets the most modern requirements, was carried out at a faster pace than anywhere else in the world. This high-level state activity and organizational work, as Muzaffar Supreme Commander-in-Chief said, served the main task ahead, and all attention was focused on it: “I have repeatedly stated from all international forums that the restoration of our lands and territorial integrity is our main task, and we are fulfilling this task.”
Probably, many people today will admit why the Azerbaijani leadership, which is trying to liberate the lands through peace talks, is right. I think that what happened during the last 44 days of the Second Karabakh War – the Patriotic War – is enough to understand why President Ilham Aliyev prefers to go through negotiations. But, unfortunately, the path taken by the current leadership of Armenia, its shameless statements, and the actions that call into question the progress made in the past, could not help but strain their patience. That is why, despite the pressure on Azerbaijan from various power centers, the country’s leadership has shown great determination, courage and political will and has adequately coped with the main task of restoring our territorial integrity: “Negotiations did not yield any results. We won this victory on the battlefield, we won this victory by giving martyrs. We are liberating our lands from occupiers at the cost of the lives and blood of our people, soldiers and officers. We are expelling the occupiers from our lands and we will expel them! ”Of course, our strong economy, along with our modern army, national solidarity, power and people’s unity played an important role in achieving victory. As the President of Azerbaijan said, our unity for internal solidarity, national unity and common cause gave us additional strength. He also did not allow some hated foreign circles to carry out their ugly plans in Azerbaijan. The country’s leadership, showing great political will and unity, repulsed the attempts and plans of these forces to divide the country. The people of Azerbaijan defended their existence as a nation. In his recent address to the nation, President Ilham Aliyev stressed the importance of this union in achieving victory: “Without this unity, without national solidarity, we would never have been able to liberate our lands from occupiers. Strong political will and unity of the people and government overthrew these plans as well.
At this point, it is worth recalling another statement of the sister of our state: “The young generation we raised liberated Karabakh from occupation. “Yes, there is a great and undeniable truth behind this statement. Probably, many people are well aware that in the last 18 years, about 40 Olympic sports complexes and numerous arenas for various sports have been built in Azerbaijan. Growing up in those sports facilities, our young people, distinguished by their physical health, great determination and invincible courage, saved Karabakh, especially Shusha, which was considered inaccessible, from the clutches of the enemy. Those who once criticized the construction of sports facilities by the Azerbaijani leadership, the development of our young and healthy youth, will probably admit that these soldiers grew up in these sports arenas. Today, the whole world is amazed and confirms that the Azerbaijani army is not far behind the armed soldiers of the most developed countries of the world with its high physical training.
As an important point in achieving a great victory, it is necessary to emphasize the policy of the Azerbaijani leadership, which unites Azerbaijanis around the world. The policy pursued by the country’s leadership in this direction has ensured the close unity and solidarity of Azerbaijanis living not only within the country, but also around the world. Diaspora organizations operating in different countries of the world, individual compatriots united around the Azerbaijani state as a fist and contributed to the achievement of a great victory.
Of course, the place of international policy, diplomatic activity and friendly relations with the world countries on the way to great victory should be noted.
High-level representation of Azerbaijan in international events, which are organized in the country and discuss global issues, as well as in various events held in different countries, our diplomatic representatives in the world’s leading countries and international organizations have played an important role in conveying the truth about Azerbaijan. As a result of this hard and continuous work, it was proved to the whole world that Karabakh has always been the land of Azerbaijan. Armenians, not Azerbaijanis, are the people who came to this land. As a result of this hard work, all the world’s leading organizations, all international organizations have adopted fair resolutions and decisions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Four resolutions of the UN Security Council, resolutions of the UN General Assembly, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Parliament and other international organizations unequivocally recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan.
As a result of the well-thought-out foreign policy of the Azerbaijani leadership, our country has emerged from isolation. On the contrary, as the course of events shows, despite the fact that it has foreign patrons, large diaspora organizations and media moguls, Armenia has become isolated.
Transnational projects implemented by Azerbaijan together with neighboring countries have radically changed the landscape of the region. As these projects cover not only the energy sector, but also the transport and communications sector, the number of Azerbaijan’s friends has increased as it meets the interests of other countries. The countries that stood by him in the cause of justice contributed to this great victory by speaking at the right time. I think that along with all the above, the special role of President, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev should be emphasized on the basis of the great victory of Azerbaijan, which is celebrated all over the world today. It is his great organizational skills, strategic thinking, high intellect that has earned him a special position among world leaders, statehood and management skills that have brought great success to our country, as well as modern leadership, as confirmed by recent events, played an important role in achieving this victory played. The President of Azerbaijan not only led the war as a commander, but also, as a skilled diplomat, protected and increased the international prestige of our country in the eyes of influential countries around the world.
I would like to draw your attention to another issue related to the field in which I work. During the 44 days of the Great Patriotic War, the head of state answered the questions of more than 30 foreign media representatives, and even skillfully turned the provocative inquiries of some of them against them. These interviews attracted the attention not only of those countries, but of the whole world with their logical and persistent answers given by the head of our state. It is no coincidence that this idea was acknowledged not only by friends of Azerbaijan, but also by journalists from a number of countries who treat it as an enemy.
The President of Azerbaijan stunned these journalists with his high intellect, worldview, high level of knowledge of international politics, legislation and diplomacy. At the same time, answering many provocative questions, he showed the journalists that he knew the history of their country, the domestic policy pursued in those countries, even better than they did. These interviews of the head of state also formed an objective opinion about our country in those who do not know Azerbaijan well, and radically changed their attitude to our country. Another point I would like to draw your attention to was the announcement by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the innovations taking place on the front, the names of the new villages and towns being liberated. Historical experience shows that the delivery of such news is usually entrusted to special information channels, for which individuals with a number of professional characteristics are selected. However, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, whose heart was beating with great love for the Motherland, undertook to deliver these messages in order to live this great joy together with the people, and he fulfilled this task with honor until the end.
Thus, the 44-day war for the liberation of the occupied territories, the end of the longing for the land that hung like a heavy stone in the hearts of the Azerbaijani people for almost 30 years, was the hard and tireless work of prominent commander and President Ilham Aliyev, a strong economy created in time. The army building, which was carried out on an equal footing with the world’s leading countries, ended with a victory on the basis of an international policy that radically changed attitudes towards Azerbaijan and the unity of the people and power that proved to be an iron fist.
Long live Azerbaijan! Long live the President of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev! Long live the people of Azerbaijan!
Karabakh is Azerbaijan!
Vugar Aghayev
