The Irish party Sinn Féin, which stands for the self determination of the Irish people, urged the Irish Government to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. The statement was made by Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Seán Crowe, the official website of the party reports.
The statement reads, in part:
“This week my colleague Aengus O Snodaigh TD tabled a Parliamentary Question calling on the Irish Government to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide, in its centenary year.
The reply he received was completely inadequate. It stated that the Irish Government has not, and will not take a position on the issue, unlike its position on other genocides in the 20th century, such as the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide.
“In 1985 a UN Committee Report agreed that what happened in against Armenians in 1915 met the criteria of a genocide. The European Parliament has passed motions recognizing it as genocide, and 22 countries have officially recognized it as genocide, including 12 EU countries.
“There is overwhelming oral, written, and diplomatic evidence that the actions of the Ottoman Empire against Armenians were genocide. If we do not accept what happened in the past we cannot learn from the mistakes and move on. Collectively we must ensure that we oppose the manipulation of history and the silence of the international community adds to the hurt of the Armenian people.
“Denial harms the victims and their survivors, and many have called Turkey’s denial a double killing.
Recognition is essential to healing and closing this open wound, and is part of the difficult work on improving relations between Armenia and Turkey.”
