BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 18
Trend:
As a result of the operational measures taken, the Armenian army received a fitting rebuff, said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev during the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of socio-economic development in the first quarter of 2020 and future objectives, Trend reports.
“As is the case every year, this year we will also discuss the socioeconomic results of six months according to the plan. This tradition bears fruit, because the meetings analyze the work done, the mistakes made, and determine the specific steps for our future activities. Of course, a decision is made at the beginning of each year on the work to be done during the year and an action plan is approved. But life does not stand still. It changes and new challenges appear. In this case, of course, we must adjust and update our plans,” said President Ilham Aliyev.
He noted that the main purpose of these adjustments is to speed up and ensure the successful development of Azerbaijan.
“Therefore, we will traditionally discuss these issues today. But first of all, I would like to inform the public about the events that have taken place in the Tovuz direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border in recent days. As you know, on 12 July, the Armenian armed forces opened artillery fire on Azerbaijani positions. As a result of this sudden strike, our servicemen were killed and injured. Following this, Armenia, as always, tried to portray Azerbaijan as the instigator of this provocation, although this does not fit into any logic. We do not have any military targets on the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border. As you know, several years ago, on my instructions, protection of a part of the border was entrusted to border troops,” said President Ilham Aliyev.
“This suggests that we have no military plans in this direction; in principle, this does not represent any value from the point of view of military goals.”
“In addition, in an attempt to justify the “act of Azerbaijani sabotage”, Armenia tried to provide a completely ridiculous reason, which I think fully corresponds to their level. Allegedly, two Azerbaijani servicemen violated the Armenian border in a UAZ vehicle and tried to commit military sabotage. The question is what country's army would organize an attack in a UAZ vehicle using only two officers and soldiers? Does the Armenian army prepare such “brilliant” military operations? But neither the Azerbaijani nor any other army of the world would take such an unwise step. In other words, the main reason for Armenia to provide this ludicrous theory is to put the blame on us, as has always been the case. But this time no-one believed that,” said President Ilham Aliyev.
He noted that no need to be a military expert to trash this absurd theory.
“The actual situation was that, I want to say again, an artillery strike was dealt on our military post, and as a result of this sudden dirty action, our servicemen were killed. I immediately gave all the relevant instructions. I gave an instruction to the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan to avenge our servicemen. Their blood should not remain unavenged, the enemy should receive a blow it will remember for years. At the same time, the Presidential Administration, the Cabinet of Ministers and relevant bodies were instructed to inform all international organizations about this act of sabotage on the part of Armenia and provide full information about what happened. I immediately called a meeting of the Security Council, where I noted that as soon as the operational situation allows, we will invite military attaches from the missions of foreign countries in Azerbaijan, journalists, if there is such a desire, and other representatives of the embassies operating in the region. We will acquaint them with the situation and they will see on the spot who committed this provocation and soldiers of which army died as a result of this provocation,” said President Ilham Aliyev.
The head of state noted that as a result of the operational measures taken, the Armenian army received a fitting rebuff.
“I have already said at the meeting of the Security Council that the blood of Azerbaijani soldiers and officers should not remain unavenged. They received crushing blows, which I am sure became a good lesson for them. Despite this, yesterday and the day before yesterday they resorted to dirty actions again, committed a military provocation once again, as a result of which several of our servicemen, including General Polad Hashimov and Colonel Ilgar Mirzayev, were killed,” added President Ilham Aliyev.