Armenia: Genocide
(asked on 4th July 2016) - View Source
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government plans to recognise the mass killings of Armenian Christians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
This question was answered on 12th July 2016
It is the policy of the UK Government that recognition of genocide is a matter for judicial decision, rather than for governments or non-judicial bodies. While the terrible suffering cannot be forgotten and we must continue to remember and honour the victims of the past, we believe the UK’s priority today should be to promote reconciliation between the peoples and Governments of Turkey and Armenia and to find a way for these two countries to face their joint history together.
It is the policy of the UK Government that recognition of genocide is a matter for judicial decision, rather than for governments or non-judicial bodies. While the terrible suffering cannot be forgotten and we must continue to remember and honour the victims of the past, we believe the UK’s priority today should be to promote reconciliation between the peoples and Governments of Turkey and Armenia and to find a way for these two countries to face their joint history together.