President: Azerbaijan would never accept the occupation

Factors such as years of army building, enhancing the professionalism of Azerbaijani Armed Forces, regularly conducting military exercises, increasing combat capabilities, and equipping the army with modern equipment and weaponry played a major role in achieving the Victory, President Ilham Aliyev said in a message to the Azerbaijani people, delivered in Khankandi on the occasion of November 8 - Victory Day.

According to Report, the head of state said the main path to Victory "ran through the hearts of our people, our soldiers, and our officers."

"What drove us forward was the path of dignity. The Azerbaijani people never intended to come to terms with the occupation. Throughout the years of occupation, I repeatedly stated publicly at various events that Azerbaijan would never accept the occupation, despite the efforts of the countries supporting Armenia to force us to do so. They repeatedly claimed that there was no military solution to this conflict. They repeatedly orchestrated various provocations in an attempt to push us into making unacceptable concessions. The large-scale smear campaign and slander directed against Azerbaijan, along with all the provocations aimed at discrediting the Azerbaijani state, its people, and its leadership, yielded no results. I repeatedly stated that we would never accept the occupation and that, if Armenia did not voluntarily withdraw from the occupied lands, we would restore our territorial integrity by military means," the head of state said.