President Aliyev: Heydar Aliyev always faithfully served Azerbaijani people

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

National Leader Heydar Aliyev always faithfully served the Azerbaijani people, lived and worked for the people, said President Ilham Aliyev.

The President made the remark at a ceremony held to mark the 94th birthday anniversary of national leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev and the 13th anniversary of the establishment of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

 “Today is the 94th birthday anniversary of the great leader Heydar Aliyev. Today the Azerbaijani people once again express their deep respect for the bright memory of the great leader. Heydar Aliyev was a brilliant personality, a great leader, a far-sighted and a brave politician. In all times he devotedly served the Azerbaijani people, lived and worked for the people. Heydar Aliyev came to power in Azerbaijan twice. Both times he saved Azerbaijan from the recession and crisis and brought the country to the development path,” he said.

The head of state noted that it was under the leadership of Heydar Aliyev and on his initiative that many important projects were realized and agriculture developed rapidly.

"The villagers were able to improve their living standards, while the development of industry was very rapid in Azerbaijan. The oil industry was developing. Many important infrastructure projects were implemented that are still of great importance for independent Azerbaijan,” the president said.

He mentioned the fact that they played a significant role in preservation of Nakhchivan, historical land of Azerbaijan, within the territorial integrity of the country.

“After the Heydar Aliyev’s resignation, Azerbaijan began to face with problems. In less than two weeks, Armenian separatists raised the issue of excluding Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan and merging with Armenia. Thus, the foundation of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem was laid, the first step was taken,” he said.

President Aliyev expressed full confidence that if Heydar Aliyev was not in Nakhchivan at the time, Nakhchivan could be occupied.  

“He defended Nakhchivan, and the residents of Nakhchivan defended him,” he added.

On the way to the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, we, like Heydar Aliyev, defend our principled position, and this position is strengthened day by day, said President Aliyev.

“Decisions, resolutions of leading international organizations from 2003 to present day also confirm this. The European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation - all these organizations have adopted fair decisions, resolutions reflecting our position on the conflict, and condemned the occupation policy of Armenia. Over these years, many countries have officially recognized the Khojaly massacre as genocide, and no one recognized the so-called "referendum" recently held in Nagorno-Karabakh. The co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group stated that they do not recognize this "referendum". Neighboring countries made similar statements. International organizations with these statements, once again showed that they respect the territorial integrity of our country and do not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh and this illegal structure, and I am sure they will not recognize it,” he emphasized.

The head of state noted that the army building was a priority issue for Heydar Aliyev.

"When he [Heydar Aliyev] came to power, we did not have a regular army. This was our main problem. The process of army building is connected with the name of Heydar Aliyev. Today, the army is developing successfully. The Azerbaijani army is among the strongest armies in the world. This is also confirmed by all international ratings,” the President noted.

Afterwards, the Heydar Aliyev Award was ceremonially presented to its winners.