Norwegian government does not recognise war crimes against Armenians as genocide

The Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anniken Huitfelt, visited Armenia in October. She then also visited the Armenian Genocide Museum, Vart Land writes. The newspaper asked Huitfelt whether the Norwegian government acknowledges the events in the early 20th century as genocide.

In an e-mail, a spokesperson of the Ministry stated that "Norway has chosen to refrain from using the term genocide, defined under the international law in the UN Convention of 1948, for events that took place earlier, except for the Holocaust."

The UN Genocide Convention from 1948 defines genocide as "acts carried out with the intention of exterminating, in whole or in part, a race or a national, ethnic or religious group as such."

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stresses to Vart Land that it does not deny that massive abuses took place against the Armenians but argues that the events "can best be analysed and assessed by historians, not by political authorities."

During the First World War, the authorities of the Ottoman Empire – the predecessor of today's Turkey – suspected the Christian community of Armenians of collaborating with the Russians. Many Armenians were deported and massacred, according to Armenian historians.