November 22 in the French consulate in Munich.
Negotiations brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group were held as usual behind closed doors.
Official Yerevan and Baku has not yet made any statements about the Munich meeting, but judging by the hints of French and American co-chairs, we can conclude that the meeting had been recorded a real breakthrough. In particular, on the basis of more than four hours of talks Fassier said the achievement of "important progress". However, the French diplomat stressed that the mediators and found "some difficulty". His American counterpart, Robert Bradtke, commenting on the outcome of the meeting said: "I was most impressed by the desire of Presidents to discuss the rather complex and quite controversial issues."
Note that the behavior of the conflicting parties on the eve of the meeting, despite the assurances of the mediators on the approximation of the positions, showed the opposite. Thus, the Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said that without the direct participation of Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiations can not come to any decision. A spokesman for the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, member of parliament Edward Sharmazanov said: "The people of Nagorno-Karabakh went to fight, because the old, non-free status did not suit him. Karabakh can not have a status lower than is now, which means that it is not be part of Azerbaijan. "
Directly opposite point of view was expressed by President Ilham Aliyev declared that Azerbaijan will never agree on the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh. General statement of the Azerbaijani leader, made shortly before the Munich negotiations, deserve special attention. "If our hope in the negotiations has been exhausted, then we have no other way. Azerbaijan has the right military means to liberate its land. International law recognizes this right for us. If we see that the Armenian side is simply stalling for time and wants negotiated "immortalize" this issue, then the negotiations will end, "- said Ilham Aliyev.
In Munich, the President of Azerbaijan refrained from harsh statements. However, words on the eve of the summit, made a splash in Yerevan. According to a senior expert of the Armenian Center for Strategic and National Studies Hovsep Khurshudyan, "all these years in Baku, said the surrender of the Armenian side, that is, the possibility of establishing control over both territories adjacent to Karabakh, and over Karabakh. Today Baku sees that it is not supported by actual results. This might push the Azerbaijani leadership to more stringent action. In this case, can the international community to recognize the independence of Nagorno Karabakh.
