Ambiguous Indifference? An Investigation of Irish Perceptions of the Armenian Question, 1895-1924.

Abstract

This thesis was inspired by the Irish government’s peculiarly ambiguous position regarding the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. It is an historical research into the contemporary Irish reactions to the events that were unfolding in the Near East from 1895 to 1924. The First World War brought a new radicalism to Irish nationalist politics and saw the retrenchment of unionist loyalties to the British Empire. Nationalists in Ireland regarded themselves and their independence aspirations as the most legitimate and exceptional in the world, and therefore regarded the Armenian cause and the international sympathy it garnered with hostile competitiveness. Unionists openly expressed sympathy of the Armenian cause as a way to demonstrate their continued belief in the war aims of the British government and their commitment to remaining part of the Empire. The ways in which Irish opinion on the Armenian cause was influenced by domestic and international factors will be closely examined in this research with the aid of previously unexplored primary sources from 1895 to 1924.