Baku, Azerbaijan, May 24
Trend:
Thanks to the power of the Azerbaijani state and the will of the Azerbaijani people, all cities liberated from the occupation will be restored, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.
He made the remarks May 23 at the meeting with the internally displaced persons, during the opening of the Gobu Park residential complex for the IDPs in the Garadagh district of Baku.
“Dear friends, I cordially congratulate you on the opening of the Gobu Park residential complex,” he said. “This great event once again shows that a citizen of Azerbaijan, our compatriots, IDPs living in hard conditions are always in the center of attention.”
President Ilham Aliyev noted that the creation of the complex shows the policy of the Azerbaijani state and the care for the IDPs.
“This beautiful residential complex was created in just one year,” he said. “Exactly one year ago the foundation of this complex was laid. At that time, Mehriban Aliyeva participated in the groundbreaking ceremony. The entire infrastructure of the complex has been created, and we all gathered for the opening of the complex. Issues with power lines, water, gas, as well as all infrastructure issues were solved, roads leading to both the settlements and the main road were built. Eleven nine-story residential buildings were built.”
The president went on to add that he has reviewed the apartments as well.
“The total area of each apartment is 73 square meters. There is a beautiful 624-seat school, a 220-seat kindergarten, a first-aid post, a post office, a police station… all the conditions for living were created at the highest level. Wonderful public areas were created, trees were planted and parks were laid. I think that among the towns for IDPs, it is one of the centers distinguished by its beauty and conditions.”
The peculiarity of this town is that the private sector actively participated in its construction, and the private sector was really the construction’s initiator and executor, the Azerbaijani president said.
“Recently, entrepreneurs have been implementing many social projects,” he said. “I have repeatedly expressed my opinion on this issue, and said that the social responsibility of entrepreneurs must grow. Excellent conditions for entrepreneurs are created in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is a very good country for entrepreneurship. There is an excellent investment climate here. There is stability, calmness. Development of business is our state policy. Eighty percent of our GDP is formed in the private sector. Therefore, always, when appealing to entrepreneurs, I advise them to pay more attention to social projects. This is the biggest project among the work carried out in this sphere. So far, entrepreneurs have been actively involved in the construction of schools and kindergartens. However, the construction of a residential center of such a size and on such a scale for the IDPs is taking place for the first time.”
Ilham Aliyev added that entrepreneurs also participated in the financing of the residential complex.
“The state didn’t allocate funds to create this complex,” the Azerbaijani president said. “So, I would like to express my gratitude to PASHA Holding, which did this work. PASHA Holding is engaged in big construction work in Azerbaijan, it makes large investments in various spheres of the country’s economy, the company put effort and achieved the creation of thousands of jobs. Today, the social responsibility of this company is obvious.”
“I believe that this wonderful initiative should be an example for other big companies,” Ilham Aliyev noted. “I am sure that the private sector will also actively participate in the construction of new residential towns, centers to be built for IDPs in the coming years. However, naturally, the state has taken on the main issue, the main work. Over the past years, about a hundred towns have been built and commissioned by the state for the IDPs. I personally participated in the opening of many of them. We provide thousands of IDPs with housing each year. This year, 20,000 IDPs will be provided with new apartments and houses. There are 1,026 apartments in this residential complex. That is, 1,026 families will live in good conditions here.”
The president of Azerbaijan added that the state program on solving the problems and improving the living conditions of the IDPs and increasing employment is being successfully implemented.
“As I noted, about 100 towns for IDPs were built,” he said. “The state allocated billions of manats for this purpose. As I noted above, thousands of families are provided with housing each year. By the end of this year, as a result of the work carried out in recent years, a total of 285,000 IDPs will be provided with housing. This year about 20,000 of them will move into new apartments. The state continues its policy in this direction. As I already said, the private sector also joined these activities, which is natural. Companies that have the opportunity should create conditions for those who live in need. I am sure that this wonderful initiative will be developed in Azerbaijan. This is while the state, on its part, will continue to spare no effort to solve the problems of IDPs. Social projects will be implemented both this and next year. We, as I noted, managed to achieve great success in this work. Among the towns built, I would particularly like to note the restoration of the Jojug Marjanli village. Last year I took part in the opening of the restored village. There are 150 houses, a school, a kindergarten and a mosque built there. In Jojug Marjanli we built an analog of the Shusha Mosque destroyed by the Armenians.”
Ilham Aliyev noted that the restoration of the Jojug Marjanli village is an indicator of indestructible spirit of the Azerbaijani people.
“This once again shows that the Azerbaijani people will never reconcile themselves with the occupation,” he added. “This once again shows that all IDPs live with one dream – the dream to return to their native lands. I am sure that we will achieve this. The restoration of the Jojug Marjanli village became possible as a result of the April fights and our brilliant victory. The restoration of this village became possible after a part of the Agdere, Fizuli and Jabrayil districts was cleared of the invaders. The Azerbaijani army once again demonstrated its strength. The Azerbaijani people showed once again that they will never accept the occupation and at any cost will return to their native lands and restore the territorial integrity of their country.”
Ilham Aliyev noted that dreams and intentions of IDPs can be seen on the example of this village.
“Citizens from Jojug Marjanli, people who lived in different places for many years, prefer to immediately return to their village when it becomes possible,” he said. “Now life is restored there, conditions are being created, an entire infrastructure – both for living and work – was created. This once again shows that after liberation from the occupation, we will soon restore all the destroyed cities. Our historical monuments, mosques, museums in all the occupied territories were destroyed and looted by the hateful neighbor. This is an unprecedented atrocity. The photos of the ruined buildings, houses and mosques show the predatory nature of Armenian vandalism. But we will return to our lands. No one doubts this, just like we returned to Jojug Marjanli and the Shikharkh settlement. The construction of the Shikharkh settlement on the lands liberated from the occupation once again shows that once we liberate our lands from occupation, life immediately returns to these lands. I am sure that thanks to the power of the Azerbaijani state, the will of the Azerbaijani people, we will restore all our cities liberated from the occupation, and the people ensuring the development of our country will live and build in these cities.”
The president of Azerbaijan added that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the greatest injustice.
“Our citizens are IDPs as a result of the occupation,” he said. “Armenia, which violated all norms of the international law, committed atrocities. The predatory image of Armenian fascism manifested itself in this conflict. However, the Azerbaijani people are absolutely sure that we will restore our territorial integrity and we must do this. Both the international law and justice are on our side. The historical truth is on our side and the strength is on our side. Today, on the world scale, the force factor comes to the fore, and strong states can achieve what they want. Azerbaijan is also a strong country. We have a strong army, a strong economy and a balanced policy. This residential complex is a temporary place of residence for you. However, we want the conditions, even if temporary, to be good. After the liberation from the occupation, we will surely create such beautiful small towns in the lands that are under occupation today. I congratulate you once again on this remarkable event. I wish you good health and success.”