Ilham Aliyev: The Azerbaijani people never intended to accept occupation

Years of army building, boosting the professionalism of the Armed Forces, conducting regular military exercises, enhancing combat readiness, and equipping the military with modern hardware and weaponry played a major role in achieving Victory.

Operativ Media reports that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated this in his Victory Day address to the nation from Khankendi.

The President noted, however, that the main path to Victory lay through the hearts of the nation, its soldiers, and officers:

"The path that carried us forward was a path of dignity. The Azerbaijani people never intended to accept occupation. During the period of occupation, I repeatedly declared publicly at various events that Azerbaijan would never accept occupation—even though the countries standing behind Armenia wanted us to reconcile with it. They repeatedly stated there was no military solution to this conflict. They repeatedly staged various provocations to push us into unacceptable concessions. The large-scale smear and slander campaign conducted against Azerbaijan, along with all the provocations designed to discredit the Azerbaijani state, its people, and its leadership, yielded no results. I stated repeatedly that we would never accept occupation, and that if Armenia did not voluntarily withdraw from the occupied lands, we would restore our territorial integrity by military means."