David Lammy has been slammed as “callous and ignorant” after writing in a recent blog post that Azerbaijan has been able to “liberate” territory in a conflict described as an ethnic cleansing.
The Foreign Secretary’s view that the Nagorno-Karabakh region has been “liberated” stands in contrast to the official stance of the British Government.
Last September, a senior British ambassador slammed Azerbaijan’s use of force after violence restarted in its ethnic and territorial conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Neil Holland said that Azerbaijan’s use of force is unacceptable and reaffirmed that Britain has urged a ceasefire in the long-running conflict.
David Lammy sparks diplomatic row after ‘ignorant’ blog post on Armenia crisisPAHolland, the Head of the United Kingdom's Delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), slammed Azerbaijan’s decision to commence a military operation in the region after a lull in violence.
Holland’s statements came after Azerbaijan launched a significant military offensive against the self-declared breakaway state of Artsakh.
This was widely condemned as a violation of the ceasefire agreement penned after the 2020 ethnic conflict.
The 2020 invasion saw several war crimes, including the beheadings of two elderly men who were murdered by Azerbaijani forces, captured in videos that were spread online.
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The bloody conflict saw several ethnic Armenian civilians murdered by Azerbaijani forces.
The beheadings were captured on mobile phone footage, revealing some of the worst events from a harrowing war.
Dozens of incidents of extrajudicial executions and the desecration of dead bodies were authenticated by NGOs operating in the region.
The Azerbaijani invasion has been described as an ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians and a second Armenian genocide by a former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
Lammy has been urged to retract his comments by an influential professor who covers the conflict.
David Lammy's blog post on Substack
Substack/David Lammy
Mark Movsesion, the Frederick A. Whitney Professor and Director of the Mattone Center for Law and Religion at St. John's University Law School, said he was shocked by Lammy’s statement.
“The Foreign Secretary's reference to Azerbaijan's ‘liberation’ of Nagorno-Karabakh is shockingly callous and ignorant.
“In fact, exactly a year ago, Baku ethnically cleansed the region of its 120,000 Christian Armenian inhabitants in violation of an order from the International Court of Justice.”
Movsesion, who is based in New York, said: “Additionally, Lammy seems to think Azerbaijan, like Ukraine, is trying to free itself from Russian domination. In fact, Azerbaijan and Russia are strategic partners, and Azerbaijan carried out the ethnic cleansing of Karabakh with Russian acquiescence.”
Lammy made his controversial remarks in a blog post after he returned from a recent trip to Ukraine alongside US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Mark Movsesion
St. John's University
Discussing how Ukrainians take pride in their closer links with Europe, Lammy discussed how other states near Russia are rejecting Moscow for other powers.
“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.”
GB News understands that the remark sparked widespread diplomatic concerns in Yerevan, with Armenian officials engaging with the British Foreign Office for clarification.
Varuzhan Nersesyan, the Armenian ambassador to the UK, is understood to be urgently seeking a response from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London.
Anush Ghavalyan, a Yerevan-based journalist formerly posted to the Nagoro-Karabakh region, told GB News that she was stunned by Lammy's “liberation narrative”.
“One year ago Azerbaijan completed the ethnic and religious cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. After months of blockade and a final armed attack on the civilian population, Baku forced them to leave their homes. Ethnic cleansing was followed by mass destruction of the cultural heritage, thus erasing the Armenian traces from the land.”
Shadow FCDO Minister Alicia Kearns has urged Lammy to clarify his stance from his ‘vanity blog’.
Alicia Kearns MP 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 judgement.”
“David Lammy needs to urgently clarify the Government’s policy on Nagorno-Karabakh. This is a serious matter - over 100,000 people have been displaced from their homes.
“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.”
The Foreign Office said in a statement: “The UK supports the territorial integrity of both Armenia and Azerbaijan and is encouraged by both sides to engage in meaningful dialogue.
“We will continue to support their commitment to lasting peace in the region.”