On January 27, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov received the high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Defense on occasion of the 16th anniversary of establishment of the Armed Forces of Turkmenistan.

Expressing the Turkmen leader sincere gratitude and heartfelt appreciation for the support and concern of improvement and development of the national army the military high-ranking officials cordially congratulated President of Turkmenistan, Supreme Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Turkmenistan, General of the Army Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov on the remarkable date and wished good health, long life, inexhaustible vigour and new outstanding accomplishments in the tireless work for the prosperity and happiness of the Motherland.

Thanking for the congratulations and good wishes Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov cordially congratulated those present and the military personnel and the students of the military higher educational establishments on the remarkable holiday noting the profound contribution that Turkmen valour soldiers had made to the achievements of the epoch of independence. The Turkmen leader emphasized that on this day the Turkmen people honoured their glorious sons, who bore with dignity the honorary title of the defenders of the Motherland and performed their sacred military duty. Day and night keeping watch on the peace and calmness of the native land the vigilant national army was our reliable stronghold of the large-scale reform programmes implemented throughout the country, the President said.

The President said that having entered the epoch of new revival Turkmenistan steadily pursued the policy of peaceableness, creation and wide international co-operation resolutely advancing along the way of the progressive reforms. As a sovereign state Turkmenistan consistently implemented the comprehensive programme aimed at maintaining the high defence capacity of the Armed Forces, strengthening the material and technical basis of the national army and training highly qualified military specialists of a new generation. Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov emphasized that the profound potential of the national army should serve the interest of peace and only peace and national security, defend happy life and constructive labour of the people of Turkmenistan. These principles underlay independent Turkmenistan’s military doctrine based on the status of permanent neutrality and of purely defensive nature. The Turkmen leader called upon the military personnel and high-ranking officials to improve steadily their professional skills and enlarge their knowledge, to serve the people and the Motherland faithfully maintaining the ancestors’ glorious military traditions.

Upon concluding the meeting Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov congratulated the participants on the 16th anniversary of establishment of the Armed Forces of neutral Turkmenistan and addressed the best wishes to the defenders of the Motherlands.

Those present on behalf of the military personnel assured the President of Turkmenistan that they would spare no efforts and even their lives to protect peace and calmness in the blessed native land, serve the native people, the Motherland and the President faithfully.