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British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has been accused of a diplomatic blunder by suggesting that Azerbaijan had “liberated” the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the Caucasus.
Lammy made the comments on Monday in a new blog on the Substack website, where he plans to write more long-form articles about world affairs and British foreign policy.
“Azerbaijan was able to liberate the territories it lost in the early 1990s,” he said in the post. Despite sparking a wave of criticism, the sentence had not been deleted or changed by Friday.
The territory he was referring to was apparently Nagorno-Karabakh, an interpretation not disputed by British authorities.
In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a short but bloody military operation to occupy the small mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
In roughly 24 hours of fighting, the Baku government regained control over territory that had been held by Armenia or local Armenian leaders since it came under Armenian control after the collapse of the Soviet Union in a devastating war between the two historic enemies.
Baku occupied territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but military action forced the exclave’s entire Armenian population (more than 100,000 people) to flee within days, leaving their homes and lives behind on a grueling days-long journey down the mountains from Karabakh.
Many Armenians, who traditionally view Karabakh as Artsakh and its national and spiritual heartland, have accused Baku of ethnically cleansing the region, but Lamy’s comments, and his use of the word “liberation” to describe Baku’s military actions, did not reflect that.
Britain has called on Azerbaijan and Armenia to enter into negotiations to end their long-running conflict.
Alicia Kearns, a Conservative MP and former chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs committee, said on X that Lammy’s comments in his “vanity blog” appeared “at odds with long-standing UK policy” and were “completely inappropriate and call into question the Foreign Secretary’s judgement”.
The Foreign Office was forced to clarify on Friday that Mr Lamy’s comments did not signal a change in the UK government’s position on Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nonetheless, the Armenian government has formally sought further clarification from the UK following Lamy’s post, an Armenian official told the Financial Times.
US Congressman Brad Sherman also spoke out about Mr X, calling his comments a “stain on British foreign policy” and accusing his foreign secretary of “supporting ethnic cleansing”.
“This is a real gaffe by the foreign secretary,” said Laurence Blowers, an associate fellow at Chatham House, an international affairs think tank.
Broers accused Lamy of “simplifying and confusing” the situation in former Soviet republics, and said he had “misunderstood the situation” on Azerbaijan and was “reinforcing the talking points of the dictatorship.”
The European Parliament last year accused Azerbaijan of carrying out ethnic cleansing in the disputed territory, a charge it denies.
Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the UK, Elin Suleymanov, said: “I don’t understand why the foreign minister’s blog has caused such a stir. [Lammy] What has been said is absolutely true. It reflects the long-standing position of the British Government, which has always supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Azerbaijan’s territories were occupied by Armenian forces for 30 years, but in 2020 Azerbaijan liberated the territories.”
“The Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh must be guaranteed safety and dignity,” Lamy told X after a ceasefire was established in the region last September.
The new Substack account is named in Lammy’s name rather than the minister’s title, but the blog was written by the foreign secretary in his official capacity, not in his personal capacity.
However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to confirm whether it had been discussed internally before being made public.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman said: “There is no change in UK policy. The Foreign Secretary supports the territorial integrity of both Armenia and Azerbaijan and is encouraged that the two countries are engaged in productive dialogue. The UK will continue to support both countries in their efforts towards lasting peace in the region.”
