The next round of talks between Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev, has begun at the Consulate of France in Munich, Germany. The talks are being held through the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Robert Bradtke (USA), Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia) and Bernard Fassier (France).

The Azeri leader made strongly worded statements on the threshold of the meeting. Specifically, he stated that the Munich meeting must play a decisive role in the negotiation process. If the meeting fails to produce any results, “we will abandon any hope for the negotiations,” Aliyev said, without ruling out a settlement of the conflict by force. In that case “we have not any other way out. We must be ready for that,” Aliyev said. He stressed that Azerbaijan has full right “to liberate its lands.”