BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 26
Trend:
Of course, the first Karabakh war was a great tragedy for us. It was a national tragedy, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev said addressing the meeting with a leadership and a group of military personnel of Azerbaijani Army on the occasion of the Armed Forces Day at Gulustan Palace, Trend reports.
“At the same time, it led to a major humanitarian catastrophe. Because at that time Azerbaijan had a population of eight million people, and one million of them had to live as refugees and internally displaced persons. Our economy was almost in complete ruins, there was no industrial potential, and there was no talk of economic development. This great humanitarian catastrophe, of course, put our country on the brink of a precipice,” Azerbaijani president said.
“The people of Azerbaijan wisely turned to Heydar Aliyev in those difficult days and invited him to take up power. After he came to power, things in Azerbaijan began to go in a positive direction. In particular, great reforms were carried out in the field of army building. It was in those years that the construction of a disciplined army began,” the head of state said.