The speech delivered by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev at the Ceremony of Exploitation of the Complex of Residential Houses consisting of 9 story buildings Built 369 IDP families in Binaghadi Rayon of Baku

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Mətbuat xidmətinin məlumatı 19 November, 2009

On November 17, 2009, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev took part at the ceremony devoted to the exploitation of the complex of nine-storey houses built for 369 the internally displaced families in the territory of the Integrated House Building Factory 2 in the district of Binagadi of Baku. The builders and the internally displaced persons, who had got flats in the complex, met the Azerbaijani President warmly. The President got acquainted with the flats. Ali Hasanov, deputy prime minister, chairman of the State Committee for the Issues of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, informed the Azerbaijani President of the performed work. He declared that the internally displaced persons, who live in non-residential buildings with intolerable living conditions and in half-finished buildings in the capital, will be moved to these six nine-storey houses. The construction of the complex began in 2008. The territory which the buildings occupy is three hectares, the total residential floor of the complex is 27 897 square meters. There are five nine-storey buildings with 63 flats in each, one building with 54 flats, a school for 260 pupils in the territory. Eighty-one of them are with one room, 181 - with two rooms, 90 -with three rooms and 18 - with four rooms in each. Improvement works have been conducted in the territory of the complex with trees and bushes planted around. There is a boiler house, a pumping station, a semi-station transformer, water and gas supply in the complex, telephones have been installed in the flats. The Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made a speech at the ceremony. Speech of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “I congratulate you on the occasion of such beautiful buildings into which you are moving today! As you see, these flats meet the highest standards and you will live comfortably in them. Three hundred and sixty nine families will be moved to these houses. For long years you were living and suffering in very critical conditions, in public buildings, in hostels, in locations unfit for living. But today a new stage begins in your life; you will live in these beautiful houses. But this is a temporary residence. After the liberation of the territories of Azerbaijan from occupation we shall build such beautiful houses in your native lands, the towns will be re-built. The entire infrastructure in the liberated territories will be re-built, recreated. As you know, the Azerbaijani government does its best for improving the living conditions of refugees and internally displaced persons. According to the information conveyed to me recently, for the purposes which I mentioned, for improving the living conditions of internally displaced persons the Azerbaijani government has spent about two billion US dollars. On the account of these finances 12 tent camp have been liquidated, 81 000 internally displaced persons have been moved to new residences, 123 schools have been built, roads have been laid, hospitals have been constructed, all of them have been supplied with electricity. In 2004 the State Program was adopted. In 2007 there were made additions in it. We solved the problems of our compatriots who lived in most critical conditions. There is already not a single tent camp in Azerbaijan. In the present stage we are going to ease the life of our compatriots who live in public buildings, in the territories of the military units, in school buildings, in hostels. To do it the Azerbaijani government has sufficient resources. Our economy is successfully developing. As you know, the finances of the State Oil Fund are used for the solution of the social problems of the internally displaced persons in the first place. All this gladdening things are being done on the account of those finances of the Fund. The Fund has been instituted as a consequence of the materialization of the oil strategy. Had it not been set up then, we would have not had such potentials today. Today with the development of economy the social problems find their solution. It also contributes to the army building. Our army is growing strong. We are holding negotiations, but at the same time we must be ready to liberate our lands from the occupants any time by taking to arms. The cause of Azerbaijan is just and equitable. We have long been suffering from the ethnic cleansing policy of the Armenian occupants. It is an intolerable situation, it is a great injustice, and it is the gross violation of the human rights. But the world community is indifferent to it. It is true that the international organizations adopt necessary decisions and resolutions, but they are not fulfilled. In such cases these resolutions lose their sense. Unfortunately, the norms of the international law are violated in the world, trampled grossly. As a result of it the territory of Azerbaijan has been remaining under occupation for many years. We try to solve the conflict peacefully, because we do not want war. But we see that it is not solved peacefully. How many negotiations have been held? At least seven-eight times each year. There is some progress in them. We can not achieve the solution of the problem radically, because Armenia demonstrated a position which contradicts the international norms completely. The world community also does not use its leverage. But in some other cases, in the identical cases, when in some other corner of the world a country occupies the territory of another country, the international forces interfere. As a result, both the political interference and the military intrusion are prevented, the conflict is solved. But in our case it is not like that. It has different reasons and we know all of them well. Unfortunately, as a result of the activities of the Armenian lobby the world community does not seriously approach the aggression of Armenia. Therefore we must analyze the situation very seriously and make amendments and corrections in our plan of action for the next years. We understand that we can rely only on our own self, only on the will and the power of the Azerbaijani people. For this purpose we strengthen our economy and army. For this purpose modern type of arms are being bought. The foundation of the development of the economy of Azerbaijan has been laid for many years to follow. There is an economic decline in the whole world. The economy of Armenia has declined for 20 per cent, but the economic growth in Azerbaijan is 8 per cent this year. That is, we shall continue our efforts. We shall continue our economic, political, diplomatic and military efforts simultaneously. Personally I am sure that the territories of Azerbaijan will be liberated. The main thing is in what way, peacefully or by waging a war? In this connection I want to disclose my views to you, because you have suffered from the ethnic cleansing policy of Armenia, from the policy of occupation, your rights have been violated. At present everybody speaks of human rights in the world. But the most grossly violated ones are your rights. You can not live in your motherland, in your native lands. Why? You can not live there because your lands have been occupied by Armenia. Unfortunately, in the beginning of the 1990s the processes, which currented in Azerbaijan, and internal intrigues created these opportunities for the Armenians. On the account of the foreign support Armenia occupied our lands and continues the occupation again on the same account. Today Azerbaijan is a mighty state. Who can occupy our country today? Nobody! Had our national leader Heydar Aliyev been the head of administration of Azerbaijan when the war began, the territory of Azerbaijan could have never fallen under occupation. But it fell, the occupation took place. There are two ways of removing the occupation: peacefully or by waging a war. There is no other way. We can not prolong this process any more. The ceasefire agreement was signed 15 years ago. In these 15 years, more exactly, even before that, in 1992, the Minsk Group was set up. It is working now. But what is the result of the activity of this institution? There is no result. It is a reality. We are said to tolerate, to hold negotiations, to speak to the Armenians. We hold negotiations and there is a certain progress in the negotiations. I want to say it also that the subject of negotiations at present is the liberation of all the territories occupied by the military forces of Armenia, of all the seven districts. The return of the Azerbaijanis to NagornoKarabakh is also the subject of negotiations, though it was not spoken at all before. I mean that there is already hope for the better. It adds stimuli to our participation in the negotiations. We think that there is still hope. Along with it we see that Armenia has chosen the tactics of prolonging the time, to drag the time out. It either includes new topics to the subject of negotiations, or wants to reconsider the issues on which an agreement has already been achieved. What does it mean? We know now what the essence of that tactics is. It is to prolong the time. But prolongation of the time does not produce any yield for them, because their goal is to settle the Armenians in our ancestral territories. But to do it they lack human resources. The population of Armenia has reduced. The number of population living in Armenia at present in reality is 1 700 000. With the lapse of time they will not be able to defend the contact line of the troops facing each other, because the potentials, strength of Azerbaijan are growing, the demographic situation is improving. The number of population of Azerbaijan is already nine million, in five-six years it will already be ten million. Today our economy is stronger than that of Armenia for seven times. In several years it will perhaps be stronger for 13, 15 times. Armenia has been isolated from all regional projects. Probably, with one exception all its borders with the neighbors are closed. The existence of the country in such conditions is doubtful. It is also true that Armenia is not able to live on its own account. Had some countries and financial institutions not rendered financial support to Armenia this year, it would have gone into shatters, sunk down completely. A country can not live on the account of foreign financial support for a long time, particularly a country which has serious problems with its neighbors. Therefore if we take into account all this factors, our economic might, our political activity, our successes in the diplomatic sphere, in army building and, in general, the future perspectives, the gap between Azerbaijan and Armenia is widening, the abyss is deepening. When we analyze all this factors, we still are choosing the road of negotiations. We shall continue our pressure. We shall continue it in political, economic spheres, in all other spheres and in all forms. We must work in a manner to achieve our goal. What we want is the restoration of justice. We do not claim to the territory of any country, though the present Armenia exists in the ancestral Azerbaijani territory, the khanate of Irevan, and the province of Zangazur are our lands. Nevertheless, we support the principle of the territorial integrity of the countries. I am sure that we shall achieve our goal, but I want it to be soon. I try and shall try to achieve it. I congratulate you cordially once more on the occasion of moving to this temporary residential location and wish you good health. I wish to celebrate these beautiful holidays together with all of you in our lands liberated from occupation.” Dilshad Guliyeva, an internally displaced person from the District of Khojavand, expressed her gratitude to the Azerbaijani President for his care and attention to the refugees and internally displaced persons and said: “The Azerbaijani people are very lucky that Mr. Ilham Aliyev is the worthy successor of our national leader Heydar Aliyev. In 1997 when our national leader met the refugees and internally displaced persons in my house, he put his hand on my shoulder and said the following words: “Dilshad khanum, I shall move you to very beautiful houses. Your grief is my grief. Then I shall settle you in the District of Khojavand of Nagorniy Karabakh. You may be sure that you will move there.” May God rest him in peace! Thank God that his successor is his own son Mr. Ilham Aliyev. I wish such houses were built in our native lands which are under occupation now, I am sure that it will become true. New towns, more beautiful houses will be built with your participation face to face with the enemy; I shall go and see them. There will be more beautiful buildings and hospitals there. I wish they were built in our native lands. The whole world look at what you do. It is not a joke, 20 per cent of the territory of the country has been occupied, but its President does such things. God save you from misfortune, protect you from the evil eye. As an Azerbaijani mother I wish I were able to burn Syrian rue over your head to protect you from the evil eye. Mr. President, take care of yourself, always be on your guard.” Then a photo for memory was taken. Then the Azerbaijani President visited the building built for Secondary School 4 of the District of Zangilan for 260 pupils and got acquainted with the conditions created in it.