BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 16. The 44-day
Patriotic War, led by President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief
Ilham Aliyev, stands at the peak of Azerbaijan’s achievements in
the liberation of its occupied territories, said the country's
Emergency Situations Minister Kamaladdin Heydarov, Trend reports.


Speaking today at a ceremonial event held at the Academy of the
Ministry of Emergency Situations to mark the professional holiday
of ministry employees and the 20th anniversary of the ministry’s
establishment, Heydarov stated that within the framework of the
Iron Fist operation, which lasted just 44 days, the powerful
Azerbaijani Army liberated the country’s occupied lands and
restored justice.


“Following the anti-terrorist operation in 2023, Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity was fully restored. Our liberated territories
are being rebuilt, and life is returning to these lands,” Heydarov
said.


He also emphasized that National Leader Heydar Aliyev, both
during the Soviet period and the years of independence, always paid
special attention to the well-being of the Azerbaijani people.


“In the fire at the oil refinery in 1971, the devastating
earthquake in Ismayilli, the powerful explosion at the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant in 1986, the terrorist attacks in the metro in
March and July 1994, the landslide on the Bayil slope in March
2000, and the earthquake that struck Baku the same year, National
Leader Heydar Aliyev immediately arrived at the scene and mobilized
state institutions to eliminate the consequences,” the minister
noted.









Heydarov recalled that the Ministry of Emergency Situations was
established by a decree of President Ilham Aliyev on December 16,
2005, laying the foundation for a systematic, state-level approach
to emergency management.







“The Ministry of Emergency Situations has been formed as a
professional state body. Over the years, 1,134 units of equipment,
including 789 fire engines, have been procured and put into
operation. Nine regional centers of the MES have been commissioned.
During this period, 80 fire protection facilities have been built,
and nearly 70,000 sites undergo fire safety inspections each year,”
he said.


The minister further stressed that over the past twenty years,
Azerbaijan’s economy has expanded more than threefold, alongside
large-scale reconstruction and development efforts.


“In 2007, 4,517 natural and man-made incidents were recorded,
while in 2024 this figure reached 14,856. During emergency
situations in 2024, nearly 29,000 affected individuals and about
5,700 people at risk of drowning were rescued. Fatalities from
natural and man-made incidents declined from 132 in 2007 to 83 in
2024,” Heydarov added.



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