YEREVAN, AUGUST 17, ARMENPRESS. UK Member of Parliament Tim Loughton has criticized the UK government for what he described as a “distinct lack of a robust response” to Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing programme in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Armenia, said that Azerbaijan is taking advantage “of the fact that Russia has its hands full elsewhere.”

“Azerbaijan is absolutely taking advantage of the fact that Russia has its hands full elsewhere,” Loughton said.  “I have no doubt that this is part of Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing programme, and whether it constitutes genocide at this stage – I mean it’s certainly one step away from it.” 

Loughton criticized the “distinct lack of a robust response” from the UK, highlighting that other countries, like France and the US, have publicly condemned Azerbaijan over the blockade.

“[The UK] need to make it clear that, one, this is unacceptable, and two, if they don’t do something about it then there will be consequences – that could start with sanctions against Azerbaijan,” he adds.

On August 1, British MPs wrote to Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, urging him to “break the British Government’s silence on the continuing atrocities”. No reply has yet been received.

Laurence Broers, the Caucasus programme director at peacebuilding organisation Conciliation Resources told The Telegraph that the war in Ukraine has “greatly weakened Russian hegemony [in Nagorno-Karabakh] and has given ample space for Azerbaijan to challenge that hegemony”.

Economics could be fuelling Britain’s silence. The UK is the largest foreign investor in Azerbaijan, with British Petroleum (BP) having invested around $84 billion in the country over the last 30 years. “I think those [commercial] interests tend to trump other potentially ethical and moral issues in UK Foreign Policy vis à vis Azerbaijan,” says Broers.

Read the full article by The Telegraph titled ‘It is like a concentration camp’: The forgotten crisis on Europe’s doorstep here.

UK Ambassador to the UN James Kariuki, speaking at the August 16 UN Security Council emergency meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh, said that the UK “remains deeply concerned at the ongoing disruptions to the Lachin corridor, which threatens the supply of life-saving medication, health care, and other essential goods and services – resulting in humanitarian consequences for the local population."