VICTORY OR DEFEAT: ANALYSTS DIVIDED OVER MUNICH MEETING

news.am
Nov 23 2009
Armenia

Despite the world leading mass media’s reports that at their meeting in
Munich the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents discussed a framework
agreement on the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the territories
controlled by the Armenian side in exchange for a referendum on the
status of Nagorno-Karabakh, Eduard Sharmazanov, Secretary of the
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), told NEWS.am.

Nevertheless, he expressed the confidence that the two Presidents
discussed the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

To substantiate his confidence, he referred to the First Russian
TV Channel. Mass media reports on the determination of a status by
means of referendum are evidence of their admitting the principle
of nations’ self-determination, Sharmazanov said. He stressed that
after the problem has been resolved, others can be discussed, as
a comprehensive agreements is needed to rule out the resumption
of the conflict. In this context, Sharmazanov pointed out that the
Azerbaijani President’s bellicose statements are the result "nervous
tics" and affect the country’s international reputation. He reminded
the "war-monger Azerbaijan" of the end of the war unleashed against
Nagorno-Karabakh in 1990s.

Giro Manoyan, Head of the Hay Dat (Armenian Cause) office, stated that
Aliyev’s recent statements cannot be regarded as "usual." Rather,
they are open threats. Manoyan believes that it is high time for
the Armenian side to give an adequate response to the Azeri leader’s
statements. "I would be happy if, during the first two hours of the
four-hour-long talk, the Armenian President had raised the issue
of advisability of further negotiations in the context of the Azeri
President’s bellicose statements on the threshold of the meeting,"
he said.

Commenting on the reports on a framework agreement allegedly discussed
at the Munich meeting, Larisa Alaverdyan, member of the Heritage
Party, stressed that the "Armenian diplomatic thought stalemated the
Karabakh problem long ago, and now they have to lie on the bed made
by themselves." "The very discussion of a document on the return of
the territories under the Armenian side’s control to Azerbaijan in
exchange for a referendum on Nagorno-Karabakh’s status is the result
of the Yerevan-stated readiness for a compromise. And now Yerevan is
making vain attempts to disown it, and we get framework agreements like
this while the Armenian side is holding all the aces," Alaverdyan said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress