David Lammy described alleged ethnic cleansing as a 'liberation'

by · Mail Online

David Lammy sparked a diplomatic row by calling alleged ethnic cleansing by a Russian ally a 'liberation' of its former territory.

The Foreign Secretary is under pressure to clarify the Government's policy on Azerbaijan's forced displacement of 100,000 Armenians last year after he seemed to have rewritten it in a personal blog post.

He also implied the former Soviet state was no longer aligned with Moscow when, in fact, the two are growing closer.

Mr Lammy's gaffe about the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Caucasus Mountains comes days after he sparked fury by claiming climate change is a bigger threat than terrorism or tyranny.

David Lammy sparked a diplomatic row as he described alleged ethnic cleansing by a Russian ally as a 'liberation' of its former territory
Pictured is Russian President Vladimir Putin
Conservative foreign affairs spokesman Alicia Kearns said: 'Words matter as Foreign Secretary, especially when opining on conflict'
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Tory foreign affairs spokesman Alicia Kearns said: 'Words matter as Foreign Secretary, especially when opining on conflict. Contradicting long-standing UK policy in a vanity blog is totally inappropriate and throws into question the Foreign Secretary's judgment.

'David Lammy needs to urgently clarify the Government's policy on Nagorno-Karabakh. This is serious.

'The Conservative Party believes encouraging Azerbaijan and Armenia to agree a historic peace treaty is a diplomatic priority, with provisions made for displaced ethnic Armenians to resettle safely in Nagorno-Karabakh.'

Cars line up as Ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh travel to cross the border with Azerbaijan near the village of Kornidzor, pictured last year
Ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh and European Union observers drive their cars past a check point on the road from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia's Goris in Syunik region
An ambulance drives along a road as refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh region arrive in the border village of Kornidzor, pictured in September 2023
Children stand next to cars as refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh region arrive in 2023
Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh region arrive in the border village of Kornidzor, 2023

Mr Lammy made the blunder in his first post on the newsletter Progressive Realism he has established to set out his approach to foreign policy. He described his visit last week to Ukraine and wrote about how Vladimir Putin's 'imperialist actions' are driving Kyiv closer to Europe.

And he made similarly positive claims about many other former Soviet satellites, writing that 'Tsardom has its limits'.

He added: 'The same effect is notable across Russia's neighbours. The states of Central Asia look increasingly east and south. Azerbaijan has been able to liberate territory it lost in the early 1990s. Georgia and Moldova are engaging with Nato and EU.'

However, many western observers have accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing. Professor Mark Movsesian, an expert on the conflict, said: 'The Foreign Secretary's reference to Azerbaijan's 'liberation' of Nagorno-Karabakh is shockingly callous and ignorant.

'Exactly a year ago, Baku ethnically cleansed the region of its Christian Armenian inhabitants in violation of an order from the International Court of Justice.'

Sources insisted Mr Lammy had not signalled a change of policy. A Foreign Office official said: 'The UK supports the territorial integrity of both Armenia and Azerbaijan and is encouraged by both sides engaging in meaningful dialogue.'

Tinderbox conflict has forced a million to flee

The battle for control over Nagorno-Karabakh in the Caucasus mountains has raged for decades.

It was established by the early Soviet regime a century ago as an autonomous region within the republic of Azerbaijan - but this led to tensions as it was home to an ethnic Armenian majority.

A separatist movement grew as the Communist era came to an end, with the regional parliament voting to join Armenia in 1988.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the area declared itself an independent republic - leading to a full-scale war between Karabakh, backed by Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

As many as 30,000 people are estimated to have died in the first Karabakh war in the early 1990s while more than a million fled their homes.

A ceasefire held, despite regular clashes, for many years with the territory becoming known as the Republic of Artsakh.

But then in 2020 a second war broke out when Azerbaijan launched an offensive to recapture territory held by Armenia, and fighting broke out again two years later despite Russian peacekeepers being deployed to monitor a ceasefire.

Exactly a year ago, Azerbaijani forces seized the region after overwhelming defending troops and the majority of ethnic Armenians fled, fearing they would be killed.

On January 1 this year the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic officially ceased to exist and the enclave is now integrated into Azerbaijan.