Mirzoyan and Bayramov were joined by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock later in the day. They also met Baerbock separately shortly before the trilateral talks.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz similarly hosted talks between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of an international security conference in Munich on February 17. Both Aliyev and Pashinian sounded satisfied with that meeting.
However, Pashinian said last week that Azerbaijan remains reluctant to recognize Armenia’s borders “without ambiguity” and is planning military aggression against his country.
Aliyev insisted on Wednesday that Baku has no “plans” to invade Armenia. He accused the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, and French President Emmanuel Macron of spreading false claims to the contrary.
Sargis Khandanian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on foreign relations, had no high expectations from the Berlin talks. He accused Baku of walking away from understandings on the key parameters of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty reached by Pashinian and Aliyev during their previous meetings.
Mirzoyan spoke last month of a “significant regression” in Azerbaijan’s position on the treaty. One of his deputies, Vahan Kostanian, said on February 22 that that Baku and Yerevan disagree on some key provisions of the treaty.
Artur Khachatrian, an opposition lawmaker who has seen recent Azerbaijani proposals on the peace accord sent to Yerevan, claimed that Baku is now demanding more Armenia concessions.
“I can confirm that the proposals presented by Azerbaijan are not aimed at achieving peace,” Khachatrian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “They are now pursuing two goals: to legitimize the annexation of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and to leave legal loopholes for clinching new concessions from Armenia in the future.”
Aliyev said on Monday that Yerevan has no choice but to accept his terms of peace.