VIENNA, September 20. /TASS/. OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani has said that the use of force as the instrument of settling arguments in Nagorno-Karabakh was unacceptable.

"He underscored that the use of force to resolve disputes was completely and always unacceptable and that sustained, constructive dialogue in good faith was the only path toward sustainable peace," the organization said in its press release.

The diplomat held two separate meetings with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. He emphasized that the OSCE stood ready to assist Armenia and Azerbaijan on their path to peace. According to Osmani, "the OSCE retained the relevant experience, expertise, and tools to facilitate dialogue, build trust and implement relevant agreements that support normalizing relations between the parties."

During his meetings with the top diplomats of both countries, Osmani expressed concern for the affected civilians and "reiterated his readiness for personal and active engagement."

On September 19, tensions flared up again in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku announced it was launching what it described as "local anti-terrorist measures" and demanded the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the region. Yerevan, in turn, said there were no Armenian forces in Karabakh, calling what was happening "an act of large-scale aggression." Residents of the Armenian capital took to the streets to protest outside the Armenian government building, blaming the country’s leadership and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the situation.

The command for the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh said that civilians were being evacuated and urged the parties to the conflict to cease fire immediately.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has called on the conflicting sides to prevent civilian casualties, stop the bloodshed, and go back to honoring the agreements between the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.