Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 March 2024
127. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason the State has never officially recognised the slaughter of Armenians in 1915 as a genocide; and whether he would officially recognise and remember that genocide this year on an appropriate date, such as remembrance day on 24 April. [13430/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe 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.
