Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk of ethnic cleansing in the Nagorno-Karabakh region; and what discussions they have had with the government of Azerbaijan about the use of derogatory language that could increase the risk of ocnflict in that region.

The UK Government is aware of reports of human rights abuses taking place during last year's Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Whilst we have seen no evidence that ethnic cleansing is taking place, the Minister for the European Neighbourhood and the Americas has raised our concerns over allegations of war crimes with the Governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan and urged that they be thoroughly investigated. We continue to call on all parties to act responsibly and refrain from taking any actions that risk a return to conflict.