BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 8
Trend:
Azerbaijan does not need mercenaries, today Azerbaijan has a powerful army, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview to the Russian “Perviy Kanal” television, Trend reports.
“I have been talking about this all these days. I am surprised with such media speculation, and in my telephone conversations with the President of France I defended our position with sufficient reasoning. First, I asked for evidence, and if there is no evidence, then he should apologize to the Azerbaijani people," Ilham Aliyev said.
"Secondly, I said we do not need mercenaries. Today Azerbaijan has a powerful army. According to all international ratings, it is among top 50 most powerful armies in the world. We have 100,000 fighters under arms, not counting the reservists and not counting other paramilitary formations ready for battle. Today the Azerbaijani army is liberating our territories," he added.
"Videos from the scenes of hostilities show our artillery and drones in action, Azerbaijani soldiers and officers planting flags in the lands already liberated from occupation. Therefore, these accusations are unfounded, we resolutely reject them and cannot allow such rumors and unverified data to somehow manipulate public opinion. Let them provide evidence. We are in the tenth day of hostilities, but no evidence has been presented to us,” the head of state said.
