Does anyone care about Nagorno-Karabakh?

For a couple of days in early October 2023, the world's news media suddenly became interested in Nagorno-Karabakh, a semi-autonomous largely Christian enclave within largely-Muslim Azerbaijan.

After months of unrest an Azeri offensive in September 2023, which followed a nine-month long blockade - essentially, a starvation blockade - resulted in Nagorno-Karabakh becoming quickly overrun. Unsurprisingly, Nagorno-Karabakh capitulated within days with the end result a hastily negotiated ceasefire that required the republic to dissolve itself by 1st January 2024.

Nagorno-Karabakh entered into ceasefire talks from a position of weakness, having been overwhelmed in the first day of the Azeri offensive. Aside from the presence of the Russian peacekeeping command, there was no international oversight or involvement. The largely Christian ethnic Armenians fled en masse.

Over 120,000 people, nearly the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh, has been displaced. In my view, the deliberate displacement of an entire people much surely amount to ethnic cleansing and arguably also constitutes either a war crime or a crime against humanity. What I know is that so much human suffering has been caused in the last year while the rest of the world has been largely silent.

This is, sadly, a crisis that has received very little attention in our news media aside from those days in early October. With the focus on the Israel-Hamas conflict, Nagorno-Karabakh appears to have been entirely overlooked, although the humanitarian situation is both real and ongoing.  

I have searched Hansard for any reference to Nagorno-Karabakh in recent Commons business.  As far as I can see, one question was asked by David Duguid (Con: Banff & Buchan) on Tuesday 24th October 2023: “What steps his Department is taking to help ensure that humanitarian support reaches people affected by the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region?”

He received a response from parliamentary under-secretary of state for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Leo Docherty, committing to “assess humanitarian needs”. Mr Docherty then took a question from Chris Law (SNP: Dundee West) who urged parliament not to “forget other conflicts around the world in which crimes against humanity have been committed against innocent civilians” and asked the under-secretary whether he agreed that the Nagorno-Karabkah situation “bears the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing”. (Mr Docherty expressed disagreement with that claim.)

That five-minute exchange is, unfortunately, the entirety of political discussion in the Commons on the human tragedy in Nagorno-Karabakh.

By mid-January, with some time having passed since that exchange, I wrote to my MP and the foreign affairs spokespeople of the main parties (Conservative, Labour, SNP and Lib Dem) to ask some questions:

a) What is your position on Nagorno-Karabakh? Do you recognise the right of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination? 

b) Do you believe the UK should do more to support the humanitarian efforts? If so, how do you believe the UK should do this?

c) What “assessments of humanitarian needs” are you aware of the government having carried out since 24th October? 

d) Do you agree that the deliberate displacement of virtually an entire nation, albeit one of 120,000 people, constitutes ethnic cleansing?

e) What actions, if any, should be taken either against Azerbaijan, or to restore the Artsakh republic? I note that, while state institutions have been dissolved, there has been no formal dissolution of the republic. 

f) How can a lasting peace be created in the area, and what can the UK do to support it? 

I received only one response, dated 1st February, which came from the Foreign Office. It said the government has "consistently called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve their issues peacefully through dialogue and in a manner that fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of both states". I was informed the government welcomes UN involvement in delivering humanitarian support and that it has "pressed the Azerbaijani authorities to work to enable former residents to return to Azerbaijan in safety... a meaningful reintegration plan that accommodates the needs of those wishing to return is of paramount importance." The letter closes with a commitment to supporting "a long-lasting peace in the region".

All that is good and well but they're the precisely the kinds of words and generic "commitments" I would have expected from a politician or civil servant with little real knowledge of, or interest in, the region. Sadly, these words have been shown to be empty and meaningless following revelations in The Guardian that the UK government actively urged British businesses to take advantage of the humanitarian disaster as a "great opportunity...to collaborate with the Azerbaijan government to provide infrastructure advice to a government which has financial means given that it has very large energy resources". 

What kind of government would promote the economic "opportunities" offered by humanitarian catastrophe, let alone invite its citizens to "collaborate" with a government that has recently sanctioned ethnic cleansing?

But it's not only the UK government that cares little about the plight of the 120,000 displaced Karabakhians. Has anyone else even noticed? Where is the anger, the public outcry, the accusations of ethnic cleansing, the marches calling for a "Free Nagorno-Karabakh"? There have been thousands of "pro-Palestine" demonstrations, but not one highlighting the human rights abuses in Nagorno-Karabakh. Where are the emergency parliamentary debates? Does anyone care enough to get a little bit "shouty", create some placards or wave a Nagorno-Karabkhian flag in protest?

I have heard nothing from either my MP or the spokespersons of the opposition parties. It is, of course, their right not to reply. But there has been a troubling lack of any kind of response from the very people who are quite happy to regularly offer their views on Israel-Palestine. Clearly Nagorno-Karabakh just doesn't get people angry in the way that Palestine does. 

I am not wishing to diminish either the significance or the horror of what is happening in Gaza, but the fact that such horrors are happening in one part of the world doesn't mean we should ignore them when they happen elsewhere. Surely, people who passionately criticise what they consider to be human rights abuses and ethnic cleansing in Gaza would find such crimes equally reprehensible in Nagorno-Karabakh? The two situations are far from identical, but in both cases huge numbers of people have been displaced and their futures are far from certain.

Historically, Nagorno-Karabakh's situation has been a complicated one and Armenian forces have been far from innocent, but in recent years something resembling peace has been achieved through Russian oversight. It is hardly coincidental that Azerbaijan launched its offensive at a time when Russia is pre-occupied elsewhere and that such "peacekeepers" were inactive and disinterested to put it mildly. The sad reality is that the plight of the Karabkhians was not only made possible of a conflict elsewhere but is worsened by indifference to the situation due (in part at least) to political focus on Israel-Palestine. Even before Hamas's Simchat Torah attack, the lack of a co-ordinated international response to the Lachin corridor blockade led Azerbaijan to believe, quite correctly, that it would face no consequences. 

More positively, I note that a Westminster Hall discussion on "International support for Armenian refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh" is scheduled for Tuesday 19th March. It is focused on the humanitarian rather than political dimension, but this represents a useful development in relieving the refugee crisis in Armenia. It is a necessary conversation to have, but the fact it has taken almost six months to reach this stage underlines the reality that, politically speaking, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh don't seem to matter. 

A humanitarian crisis is a humanitarian crisis. It is no less so when those affected are caught up in a conflict few of us know much about or their sense of nationhood is not one that intersects with our own political identities. 

Azerbaijan is not interested in peace. Its government has stated that it will "guarantee the rights and security of Karabakh Armenians in the same way as any other ethnic minority group in Azerbaijan" - not particularly reassuring given Azerbaijan's historic treatment of minority groups. It also suggests that Karabakhians will not be treated as equal citizens. The Azerbaijani government has also said that any individual who chooses not to accept Azerbaijan’s proposals is free to leave Karabakh, also not entirely reassuring. 

Worse still are reports that "Azerbaijan is ratcheting up its military rhetoric" and "staking claims to Armenia's entire territory", potentially plunging the wider area into instability and crisis. 

There will be no peace so long as the Armenian and Azerbaijani nations remain hostile towards each other. Unfortunately, there is an enormous human price that is being paid. 

The UK government cannot be trusted to stand up for Nagorno-Karabakh. There are voices crying in the desert, such as Global Witness, but by and large they are not being heard. With neither our politicians nor our news media interested in the ongoing emergency, will anyone step up? Anyone at all? 

Update, 19.3.24

There has been a positive, if overdue, Westminster Hall debate on the subject of Nagorno-Karabakh this afternoon. The transcript can be read on Hansard.