For Azerbaijan the first half of 2015 has become, if not a landmark, a very important period in both the political and economic spheres. Yesterday, speaking at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to socio-economic development in the first half of 2015, Ilham Aliyev did not limit himself only to the social sphere and the economy "In the Middle East violent clashes are taking place, Europe is in a deep economic and moral crisis. All this makes Azerbaijan think," the President of Azerbaijan said, stressing that Baku is establishing equal relations with all countries and international organizations, but gives priority to its own national interests.
The president made strict statements against the policy of double standards, a number of the Western structures, focusing on the text of the PACE resolution, which betrayed a bias and subjectivity in the address Baku. "In the draft resolution debated and adopted at the PACE summer session, it was clearly stated that the Assembly takes into account the fact that there are occupied territories of Azerbaijan. And what? This proposal was changed to diffuse the link of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It's a pronounced anti-Azerbaijani step," Ilham Aliyev said.
He drew attention to the position of Berlin. When the European Parliament tabled a resolution with attacks against Azerbaijan, the document was not adopted, but the Bundestag stepped out by adopting an anti-Azerbaijani resolution. "What does the Bundestag do to us, and who do they think they are? Is Berlin the master of the world and all others must obey it? We do not want anything from them. On the contrary, it is Berlin who needs our gas and oil ... with Azerbaijan it is impossible to speak the language of diktat," the president said.
Now Azerbaijan will continue to strengthen its military power, a naval base has been recently been established there, which has become one of the largest military installations in the Caspian Sea, the latest armaments have been purchased. "The day will come and Azerbaijan will restore its territorial integrity," the president said, remarking that in the Karabakh settlement over the past few months there has not been any progress, as Armenia is boycotting the talks and trying to tighten the solution. Such a policy is detrimental to the internal situation in Armenia because of the growing economic, political and demographic crisis.
According to Aliyev, a dirty campaign that takes a special scale on the eve of important international events iss continuing today against Azerbaijan, a group of hypocritical Western politicians, congressmen, senators, politicians, Islamophobes who are living at the expense of the Armenian lobby, have declared open war on Azerbaijan.
"Today, unfortunately, in Europe, fascism, racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia and anti-Semitism have revived. Of course, these are the forces that do not want such a development of Muslim countries. Therefore, they are united against our country," the president said.
This was particularly noticeable during the First European Games, as the information war against Azerbaijan has reached unprecedented proportions. "But we proved once again that there is nothing external that can influence the will of Azerbaijan," Aliyev said.
However, according to the head of state, after the European Games the influx of tourists to Azerbaijan has even increased. In this regard, he instructed to expedite the issuance of visas to tourists, lower airfares and hotels in the country. In Azerbaijan the majority of tourists are coming from Russia, Turkey and Europe, and they are accustomed to fly at more favorable prices.
According to Aliyev, the price of air tickets in some cases is artificially high. "Azerbaijan does not buy fuel abroad, it produces it by itself, kerosene is sold at cheaper prices, unlike other countries. The airline AZAL receives large subsidies from the state, the planes are purchased from the state budget, airports are being built at the expense of public funds," the president said, instructing the Ministry of Finance, Economy and Industry to develop a mechanism of price regulation to avoid artificially inflating the cost of tickets.
