Written answers

Wednesday, 5 May 2021

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Foreign Conflicts

Photo of Seán HaugheySeán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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336. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the Armenian genocide which occurred 106 years ago; if Ireland can formally recognise the massacre of up to one and a half million Armenians as an act of genocide; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23435/21]

Photo of John BradyJohn Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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345. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if the Government is prepared to follow the example of the President of the United States of America and recognise the genocide perpetrated upon Armenia by the Ottoman Turkish Government during World War 1; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23134/21]

Photo of Neale RichmondNeale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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346. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has considered recognising the murder of up to one and a half million Armenians from 1915-1917 as genocide as was recently done by the President of the United States of America; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23163/21]

Photo of Cian O'CallaghanCian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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347. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his plans to officially recognise the Armenian genocide during the First World War; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23203/21]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 336, 345, 346 and 347 together.

The Government views the terrible events of 1915 which saw the deaths of a very large number of the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire as a tragedy and has expressed sympathy for the enormous suffering of the Armenian people during the period in question.

There is no international consensus on whether these events amount to genocide and neither the EU nor the UN have adopted a position on this question in relation to the terrible events of 1915.

The Government has not taken a position on whether those terrible events should be described as a genocide as we believe we are not in a position to adjudicate on this matter which involves the consideration and determination of a number of legal issues and an assessment of the actions and intentions of many parties during that time.

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