The Canadian government has announced the name of the ambassador who will lead a new embassy in Armenia amid the escalating military conflict in neighboring Azerbaijan.

Andrew Turner, a career diplomat, will be deployed to the capital Yerevan starting next month as the Liberals seek to forge closer ties with countries moving away from Russia’s sphere of influence.

Mr. Turner’s experience primarily includes deployments to the Middle East, although he also helped shape Ottawa’s response to tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Canada has a large Armenian diaspora and the Liberals are committed to raising Armenian issues in the House of Commons.

In April 2022, Stéphane Dion, ambassador to the European Union and former foreign minister, released a report on how Canada can better support Armenia’s “fragile” democracy.

The report, released weeks after Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine, said the country’s commitment to democracy sets an example for other former Soviet states.

We can read that supporting Ukraine also means intensifying efforts to promote democracy in the region.

Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly announced in June 2022 that Canada would finally open a new embassy. His office argued that an embassy would help expand Ottawa’s knowledge of the Caucasus region while helping foreigners obtain visas and Canadians obtain passport services.

The news comes as Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, said Azerbaijan could carry out “ethnic cleansing” of Armenians in its Nagorno-Karabakh region.

This region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but is populated by approximately 120,000 Armenians. Azerbaijan and Armenia have been fighting over control of the region since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Tensions in the region worsened a year ago when the main access road was blocked, leading to months of food and medicine shortages that groups such as Human Rights Watch blame on Azerbaijan.

Last week, Azerbaijan fired heavy artillery fire at separatist militias, reportedly killing dozens, raising fears of an all-out war. But within 24 hours a ceasefire was declared and Azerbaijan said it wanted to integrate Armenians into its country as “equal citizens.”

A mass evacuation takes place, with thousands of ethnic Armenians fleeing to Armenia. Some tell the media they fear further military escalation in the region or political repression if they move to other parts of Azerbaijan, which Freedom House describes as authoritarian and corrupt.

Mr. Rae said on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday that the evacuation represented “a complete failure of global diplomacy in the face of ethnic cleansing.”

M^Me Joly issued statements calling on Azerbaijan to stop escalating tensions and the NDP called on him to begin imposing sanctions on officials there.

“Canada must make it abundantly clear that the international community will not tolerate this behavior,” said a letter signed last Friday by MPs Heather McPherson and Alexandre Boulerice.

Canada currently has no embassies in these two countries, matters related to Azerbaijan are handled by diplomats based in Turkey, and last year a consulate was opened in Armenia, reporting to diplomats in Moscow.

To watch in the video