MOSCOW, September 30. /TASS/. The President of the Federal Ethnic-Cultural Autonomy of Russia's Azerbaijanis, Mekhriban Sadygova, and President of the Federal Ethnic-Cultural Autonomy of Russia's Armenians, Ara Abramyan, have issued a joint call addressed to their compatriots, the press-service of the Federal Agency for the Nationalities Affairs told TASS on Wednesday.

They condemned the attempts at expanding the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh by recruiting volunteers from the ethnic diasporas and urged their respective communities to avoid yielding to provocations.

"The Federal Ethnic-Cultural Autonomy of Russia's Azerbaijanis and the Federal Ethnic-Cultural Autonomy of Russia's Armenians believe that trying to solve the conflict from the position of strength is impermissible. We are calling upon both parties for a political and diplomatic settlement. We insistently urge our compatriots to observe calm, display respect towards each other and avoid yielding to provocations. It is essential to analyze the situation in a soberly-minded way, to respect and observe the laws of our country and to preserve inter-ethnic accord," the joint statement obtained by TASS runs.

The leaders of the ethnic-cultural autonomies strongly condemned "attempts at expanding the military conflict, including attempts to recruit volunteers from the Azerbaijani and Armenian diasporas." They expressed the hope that the wisdom of both peoples and their common history of peaceful coexistence in Russia would serve as an example for the conflicting parties and help establish peace and stability in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The meeting devoted to the aggravation of tensions in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, where the joint statement was signed, took place at the Federal Agency for the Nationalities Affairs. It was held with support from the Russian presidential council for inter-ethnic relations.