BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. The Azerbaijani Army showed its strength during the war, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with local TV channels on January 10, Trend reports.
"During the war, our Army showed its strength, showed its resolve, and our people as a whole showed their indomitable spirit. Our soldiers made great sacrifices, they literally faced death, and nearly 3,000 of our children were martyred. Our army was strong enough. The fact of the strengthening of our army was not a secret to anyone.
I remember a time when we started allocating major funds for military expenses. I was even accused by some international organizations that Azerbaijan should solve this issue peacefully and that there was no military solution to this issue. Why is so much being allocated? Even within the country, some criticized us for allocating so much money to the army. There were those who weren’t very impressed by our parades. We were simply showing our capabilities, we were showing that we would not come to terms with this occupation. We didn’t want war to be necessary.
We were forced to show our strength because the messages we were sending did not reach the address. During the 44 days, we did not take a single step back, not a single person ran away, there was not a single deserter. This is perhaps an unprecedented indicator in the world’s military history," President Ilham Aliyev said.