Written answers
Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Historical Conflicts
Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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150. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if the Government intends to recognise the massacre of one-and-a-half million Armenians as an act of genocide perpetrated by the Turkish government; if discussions have taken place within his Department or at a Government level as to developing a stance on the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16739/24]
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish Government views the terrible events which saw the deaths of a large number of the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire as a tragedy, and has expressed deepest sympathy for the enormous suffering of the Armenian people during this period.
The term ‘genocide’ has a particular meaning under international law. The Government has not taken a stance on whether those terrible events should be described as a genocide. To reach a conclusion that any event amounts to genocide involves the consideration and determination of a number of complex factual and legal issues, including an assessment of the actions and intentions of many parties.
Currently, there is no international consensus on whether these events amount to genocide. No Irish or international court has issued a final judgment recognising these terrible events as an act of genocide.
Ireland’s position on the description of these events does not diminish in any way our recognition of the terrible and shocking nature of what occurred to the Armenian people between 1915 and 1917.
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