[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 43 (Tuesday, April 19, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: April 19, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
COMMEMORATING THE 79TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from California [Mr. Lehman], is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. LEHMAN. Mr. Speaker, this Sunday, April 24, marks the 79th
anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Each year, Members from both the
House and the Senate pause to honor the memory of the 1\1/2\ million
Armenians massacred by the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
The Armenian community in the United States is largely descended from
those who escaped death but were forcibly exiled from their historic
lands and found home on our shores. Here in the United States,
Armenian-Americans found security and opportunity, and have contributed
to every aspect of life.
On the evening of April 24, 1915, more than 200 Armenian religious,
political, and intellectual leaders of the Armenian community in
Istanbul were arrested, exiled from the capital city and executed. In a
single nights sweep the voice of the representatives of the Armenian
nation in Turkey was silenced. This tragic event was only the beginning
of an unfolding, systematic policy of deportation and extermination
being implemented by the young Turk Government. Consequently, the 24th
of April represents for Armenia the symbolic beginning of the Armenian
genocide.
In the following years from 1915-1923, 1\1/2\ million men, women and
children were murdered in an attempted genocide of the Armenian people
by the Government of the Ottoman Empire. This ethnic cleansing by the
Ottoman Empire was indeed a tragic loss which resulted in the death of
two of every three Armenians living in their homeland.
The Armenian genocide was a terrible page in our world's history but
we, as a society, must never forget the atrocities of the past. For if
we forget the horrors of the past--they will be repeated in the future.
Perhaps if more people had known about the genocide of the Armenians,
Adolf Hitler would not have rallied his troops for the invasion of
Poland in 1939. Hitler was heard to have said to his followers, ``Who
remembers the Armenians?'' Hitler was right, few people at the time
remembered the Armenians.
The horror of the Armenian genocide is made worse by the refusal of
the current government of Turkey to acknowledge that it ever occurred.
The Turks attempt to account for the vast decrease in the number of
Armenians in Turkey as a consequence of war. Do the Turks really expect
Armenian-Americans to forget this horrendous massacre simply because
they have succeeded in tampering with history and denying the obvious
facts? The historical record is clear and irrefutable; it is our moral
responsibility to acknowledge the Armenian genocide.
Turkey's refusal to admit the Armenian genocide ever happened is just
another ploy by the Turkish Government. Currently, Turkey is
restricting Red Cross and humanitarian aid, some of which was approved
by this body, from being delivered to the starving people of Armenia.
Mr. Speaker, the time has come for the United States to tell Turkey
enough is enough. Despite Turkey's abysmal human rights record and
refusal to allow humanitarian assistance to be delivered, this country
continues to provide hundreds of millions of dollars to the Government
of Turkey.
It simply makes no sense for our government to continue to provide
assistance to Turkey. Recently, I introduced the Humanitarian Aid
Corridor Act, which stipulates that countries who receive U.S. foreign
assistance must--as a condition of receiving U.S. assistance--not
obstruct nor delay the delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.
I am hopeful that tonight's special order commemorating those killed
during the Armenian genocide will demonstrate our country's concern for
Armenians all over the world. The 24th of April is a day of remembrance
for all of us who care about human values and for all of us who care
about the truth. I thank my colleagues for their participation and hope
you will co-sponsor the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act (H.R. 4142).
As a person committed to the truth about the Armenian genocide and
holding countries accountable for their actions, I would like to thank
Ms. Eshoo, who helped organize this special order, for ensuring that
Armenian genocide will not go unacknowledged and unmourned by the
American people.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California [Mr.
Becerra].
Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank my colleague, the gentleman
from California [Mr. Lehman] for calling this special order and
allowing us to speak on the issue of the 79th anniversary of the
Armenian genocide.
Mr. Speaker, today Members of the House of Representatives sadly
commemorate the 79th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. I want to
recognize the hard work of my good friend, the gentleman from
California [Mr. Lehman], for calling this special order.
Today, I must first ask--How can words ever express the tragic loss
of over 1\1/2\ million innocent people? Yet, the very fact that
genocide is so incomprehensible, strengthens the need to speak out, to
commemorate, and to remember the Armenian tragedy.
Denial and silence compound the crime against humanity that was
committed by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923. Only when all
sides recognize the depth and scope of the Armenian genocide can we
move forward in building trust and peace in this troubled region.
As a country, the United States has been blessed by the Armenian
populations in our communities who are descendants of those who were
forced into exile.
As immigrants fleeing persecution and death, many Armenians found
safety and a new way of life in America. With determination and dignity
they started over, established roots, and became contributing members
of our society.
Such survival is a tribute to their strength and reaffirms that the
United States' acceptance of thousands of persecuted Armenians is a
part of our history and tradition that deserves recognition.
These Armenians and their children and grandchildren shall never
forget less fortunate individuals--the thousands upon thousands who
died, and those who survived struggling for self determination in their
homeland.
Those of us who are not of Armenian descent must also never forget
the Armenian genocide. It serves as a tragic reminder that unchecked
and abusive government power has and can lead to the deaths of over a
million innocent people.
Mr. LEHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from California, Mr. Thomas.
Mr. THOMAS of California. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for
yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I, too, am pleased to take the time to remind all
Americans that the Armenian genocide was the first genocide of the
twentieth century. I think it is ironic that, as we are speaking now in
memory of the first genocide of the twentieth century, that perhaps we
are experiencing one of the last. Or yet will there be other genocides?
{time} 2040
When will the lesson be learned? Those of us who are from California,
especially central California, have a number of friends who are
Armenian. My chief of staff is Armenian.
I have listened to their personal stories and the tragedies that they
have lived through. It seems entirely appropriate that we carry these
people in our memories as those who, at the very beginning of the 20th
Century, experienced the worst of all possible debacles. That is, not
murder, not mass murder, but genocide, and that with the Armenians'
ability to cope and relate, let us hope that we, after this year,
remember only the history of genocides and not the continuing ones.
Mr. LEHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr.
Barca].
Mr. BARCA of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by commending my
colleague from California, Dick Lehman, for organizing this special
order to commemorate the Armenian genocide.
Garbo Kaisserlian, Tamam Hadishian, Manam Haydarian, Gabriel Suslian,
Haroutoon and Sare Yeretzyan, Krikor Kaprelian, Dikran Meghdasian,
Arsham Arshamian, Travanda Malkasian and Giragos Kazarian. These are
just a few of the names of relatives of the citizens of Wisconsin's
First District who died at the hands of the Turkish Government during
the Armenian genocide between the years of 1915 and 1923. Mr. Speaker,
I ask for unanimous consent that a more complete list of these names be
submitted at this point into the Record.
Each year Armenians and those of us who are concerned abut this issue
remember the 1.5 million victims of this horrific crime against
humanity. The remembrance has another purpose however, one of education
and recognition.
On April 24th, 1915, hundreds of Armenian religious, political and
intellectual leaders were arrested, exiled and eventually murdered in
remote areas of Eastern Anatolia in eastern Turkey. Within a few
months, 250,000 Armenians serving in the Ottoman army during World War
One were disarmed and forced to join labor battalions where they were
starved to death or executed. The final step came when Armenian
citizens were deported from every city, town and village in the empire.
Most women and children were sent on death marches through the Syrian
desert where they were subjected to rape, torture, starvation, disease
and murder along the way.
To quote the distinguished author, Elie Wiesel:
Before planning the final solution, Hitler asked, who
remembers the Armenians? He was right. No one remembered
them, as no one remembered the Jews.
To this day the Republic of Turkey does not recognize the ethnic
cleansing that occurred during the Armenian genocide. United States
policy should encourage the Turkish Government to recognize the
Armenian Genocide. This recognition will allow both the Armenian and
Turkish peoples to move on to a new chapter in their histories and to
assure that these crimes will never again be repeated. Like the
holocaust of European Jews and the genocide of the Cambodian people
later in this century that followed, the lessons of this ultimate crime
against humanity must never be forgotten. Armenians and non-Armenians
alike must teach our children the lessons of the genocide. We must
never forget. History must never be repeated.
Mr. Speaker, brutality can be tolerated no more today than it was
during the time of Hitler, Stalin or Talaat Pasha [leader of the young
Turks during the genocide]. Our country must send strong messages to
those who would oppress and kill today. We will remember the lessons of
the Armenian Genocide that brutality and aggression will not go
unchallenged.
in memory of those that died in the armenian genocide of 1915-1923
Garbo Kaisserlian--relative of Araxi Kaisserlain.
Tamam Hadishian--grandmother of Gulloo Kaisserlian.
Gabriel Suslain--relative of Vartouhie Abajian.
Haroutoon and Sara Yeretzyan--relative of Rose Shamshoian and Alice
Kashian.
Markritt Shamshoian--stepmother of the late Edward Shamshoian.
Krikor Kaprelian--relative of Elsie, Rose, and Julie Kaprelian.
Serop Yeghissian--grandfather of Kaloust Mahdasian.
Dikran Meghdasian--uncle of Mahdasian family.
Arsham Arshamian--brother of Arshag Kalajian.
Arkel Avakian--grandfather of Naz Kalajian.
Trvanda Malkasian--grandmother of Mary Djibilian and Sonia
Buchaklian.
Giragos Kazarian--relative of the Kazarian family.
Mr. LEHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentlewomen from
California [Ms. Eshoo] for helping arrange this.
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues from
California, Congressman Lehman and Congresswoman Eshoo, in
commemoration of one of the saddest and most tragic events of human
history--the genocide of the Armenian people during the latter half of
the 19th century.
In joining my colleagues, I also want to heartily commend them for
taking this time that we may speak about this very disturbing chapter
in world history. It is a story that is widely known, however, there is
little mention of it in our history books. For while it may be painful
to review these events, as long as this is the case--as long as we
experience this discomfort and pain--there is hope for humanity.
Unfortunately, the plight of the Armenians and the attempted genocide
of 1915 by the Ottoman Turks is an event that the U.S. Government has
still not recognized. In a time where human rights are in the forefront
of all of our minds we must recognize the struggles that the Armenians
have gone through in 1915 as well as the present with the current
Azerbijan blockage.
Indeed, in few other instances has man's inhumanity to man been
demonstrated so starkly than in the persecution of the Armenians by the
Ottoman Empire. And while some 1,500,000 Armenian people died and
another 500,000 were exiled between 1915 and 1923, this was but the
brutal culmination of events stretching back to 1894.
In that year, 300,000 Armenians were massacred, and in 1909, a
further 21,000 perished--all before what is generally considered to be
the true genocide beginning 6 years later.
As an American of Greek descent, I always have felt a special tie to
the Armenian people, because the land of my ancestors also suffered at
the hands of the Ottoman Turks. My colleagues may know that every
March, I sponsor a special order in this chamber to commemorate Greek
Independence Day on March 25th.
That date marks the beginning of Greece's struggle for independence
from more than 400 years of domination by the Ottoman Empire. It was on
that day that the Greek people began a series of uprisings against
their Turkish oppressors, uprisings which soon turned into a
revolution.
Greece was more fortunate than Armenia. It did not suffer the dark
events that we commemorate today. Whole villages exterminated,
thousands and thousands rounded up and literally worked to death.
However, Greeks, too, know what it means to labor under oppression.
The Greek struggle for independence and the Armenian genocide are two
events that erupted in the same region of the world and that fit neatly
together to form a message.
It is a message that rings down through the ages and must never be
ignored. The message is this: We must continue to speak out, to raise
our voices in protest of the mistreatment of our fellow human beings.
This is a simple matter of right versus wrong.
It is our duty to call attention to human rights abuses on any scale
until the world is united in revulsion for these atrocities; until
those yearning only to live free are allowed to do so.
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me
in commemorating the 79th anniversary of one of the great tragedies of
our century--the slaughter of over 1 million Armenians, residents of
Ottoman Turkey, between 1915 and 1923.
As we remember this and the other massacres and deportations that
were inflicted on Armenian civilians in the early years of this
century, we must remind ourselves, once again, that only be keeping the
memory of these tragedies alive can we hope to avert their recurrence
in the future.
In a year when the movie ``Schindler's List'' reminded us all why we
must ``never forget'' let us remind ourselves that it was the world's
inattention to the massacres of Armenians that emboldened Hitler to
proceed with the final solution.
At the same time, since 1991, this annual commemoration is also an
occasion to mark the historic reemergence of an independent Armenia. A
resilient and resourceful people, the Armenians have overcome great
adversity and are building an inspiring new chapter in their national
history.
We also want to note the enormous contributions made by Armenian-
Americans in our own country. Mostly descended from those who escaped
the slaughter, these Americans fill leading ranks of business,
medicine, law, and every other conceivable undertaking. We salute their
achievements and we offer our sincerest condolences as they grieve for
the victims of this terrible tragedy.
Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues today
to commemorate the 79th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
Beginning in 1915 and until 1923, over 1.5 million Armenians died as
a result of persecution by the Ottoman Empire. The massacre of the
Armenian people was a systematic program to cleanse the Ottoman Empire
of the Armenian people. Armenians were displaced from their homes and
subject to torture, mutilation, and inhumane treatment.
This type of ethnic cleansing is still frequent today; in the former
Yugoslavia, the Caucausus, Rwanda and Burundi. We still live in a world
where racial bigotry and persecution rule the governments and lead the
people of various nations.
The end of the Cold War and the rise of the new independent states is
a call for the United States to remain at the forefront of the battle
for human rights, democracy and peace. We must be very clear that in
our world community there is no place for behavior that oppresses the
inalienable rights of human beings to exist. Just as when we
commemorate the Jewish Holocaust, we recite ``never forget,'' so should
be the case with the plight of the Armenian people.
The atrocities of the Ottoman Empire should be a constant reminder to
us that it is our responsibility to insure that tragedies like this
will never resurface to stain the history of mankind.
It is my sincere hope that this commemoration will assuage the
survivors and increase the level of knowledge in our own communities. I
appreciate this opportunity to increase the awareness on this rarely
heralded issue.
Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues in the
sad commemoration of the killing of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915
and 1923.
I am particularly mindful of this tragedy because many of the
children and grandchildren of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide
live in the Congressional district which it is my privilege to
represent.
As a supporter of human rights, I am appalled that the Turkish
government has refused to acknowledge what happened and instead is
attempting to rewrite history.
In a sense, even more dismaying than Turkey's denial is the
willingness of some officials in our own government to join in
rewriting the history of the Armenian Genocide. It is imperative that
we do not let political agendas get in the way of doing the right
thing.
Mr. Speaker, the issues surrounding the Armenian genocide should not
go unresolved. I call upon the United States Government to demand
complete accountability to the Turkish Government for the Armenian
Genocide of 1915-1923. To heal the wounds of the past, the Turkish
government must first recognize the responsibility of its country's
leaders at that time for this catastrophe. Such an admission would make
it possible for an international forum to convene in which
representatives of the Turkish and Armenian governments might develop
realistic strategies for resolving the contemporary implications of
that crime of genocide.
I also believe it continues to be appropriate for the United States
to maintain a ban on aid to Azebaijan until it has ended its aggression
and lifted its blockades against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabagh. Lifting
the ban, as is proposed in a bill pending before the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, would reward Azebaijan for its continuing aggression
and attempts to seek a military solution of the conflict.
The noted philosopher, George Santayana, has taught us that ``those
who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'' We should
heed his wise principle and do all we can to ensure that the martyrdom
of the Armenian people is not forgotten or repeated.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to join with my
colleagues to pay tribute to the one and a half million Armenians who
were murdered during the genocide organized and perpetrated by the
Ottoman Turkish Empire. I have taken part in this Special Order, which
we hold every April, since my first year in the House, and I am
confident that this annual rite of remembrance will continue for as
long as people of conscience are elected to serve in this House. In
particular, we will feel compelled to raise our voices as loud and
strong as possible until such time as the Government of Turkey finally
ends its disgraceful policy of denying that this genocide ever took
place. Indeed, it is the obstinate policy of the Turkish Government, in
large part, that motivates us to keep alive the memory of one of
history's darkest chapters. Let me say to all enemies of the truth, to
all those who wish to rewrite the past: your efforts will not succeed,
cannot succeed. Crimes against humanity may, at times, go unpunished.
But as long as there is any sense of decency and a belief in the truth,
these crimes will never be forgotten.
Mr. Speaker, as we come to the end of the century, we are well-
advised to think about what happened at the beginning of the century,
during the First World War at the time of the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire. We now live in a very uncertain world, a time when a superpower
has collapsed, a major international ideology has been discredited, and
a great deal of uncertainty, instability, violence and the threat of
wider warfare grips many parts of the world. What we are seeing in
Bosnia, with the Serbs' ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing, or the
recent frightening rash of ethnic bloodletting in Rwanda, are but two
examples of how a situation of instability can bring out the worst in a
nation that is struggling to maintain its hold on power through the
deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, religious or
cultural group. This is what is known as genocide.
Back in 1915, the term genocide had not yet been coined. But
witnesses to the horror that took place in what is now the Republic of
Turkey had no doubt about what was going on, even if they didn't have a
word for it. Our U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry
Morgenthau, spoke out against the program of ``race extermination under
a protect of reprisal against rebellion.'' He said that ``I am
confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such
horrible episode as this.'' He noted that Turkish officials ``made no
particular effort to conceal'' the goal of deportations of Armenians,
namely, in Morgenthau's words, ``the death warrant to a whole race.''
This historical tragedy--which began on April 24, 1915, with round-
ups of Armenian religious, political and intellectual leaders, and
ended eight years later with the murder of 1.5 million people and the
virtual elimination of the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire--
was recognized for what it was by our ambassador, international relief
agencies and journalists on the scene. The U.S. Archives contain
volumes of historical records on the genocide. Both Houses of Congress
and the last four Presidents of the United States have paid tribute to
the Armenian victims.
Does the Turkish Government really believe that we have all been
duped by some massive hoax? Or is there a darker reason for their
attempts to deny what happened nearly 80 years ago? These questions are
best answered by the Turkish authorities themselves. True, the
acknowledgement by modern Germany of the sins committed in the name of
Germany by the Nazi does not change the fact of the Nazi Holocaust
against 6 million Jews or ease the pain of the survivors and their
families. Yet, an acknowledgement of the truth by Turkey would still
mean a great deal. It would at least end the insult that Armenian
Genocide survivors and their families have to face on top of the burden
of their horrible memories. Such an admission would also show a high
degree of honesty, maturity and commitment to democratic values on the
part of modern Turkey. Maybe we will see it in our lifetime.
In the meantime, Turkey can take steps to help Armenians today by
working to end the blockade imposed against Armenia by Azerbaijan. Yet,
sadly, turkey has so far done just the opposite, in the process dashing
any hopes of a reconciliation with the Armenian people and a
recognition of their national rights. Like my colleagues here tonight,
I have nothing against the Turkish people or their culture. I am glad
that Turkey has been a United States ally. But I would hasten to add
that American allies, recipients of U.S. aid, should show more respect
for our democratic values.
Mr. Speaker, let us use this occasion to resolve to never forget the
tragedy of the Armenians and to speak out whenever genocide is used by
tyrants as an instrument of state policy.
Mr. LEVY. Mr. Speaker, it seems appropriate to me that today the
House of Representatives commemorate April 19, 1994, as the 79th
Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
Throughout the United States and the world, Armenians, Americans,
Jews and other people of conscience pause to remember the 1.5 million
Armenian victims of genocide and the 500,000 refugees that fled the
horror between 1915 and 1923.
Nearly two decades before the beginning of the Holocaust, the world
was brought face to face with the sheer horror and stark terror of mass
murder, starvation, torture and atrocity of the Armenian Genocide.
As would be the case during the Holocaust, very few would even
attempt to come to the aid of the victims of this genocide. Today,
Americans and people of conscience stand side by side with people of
Jewish and Armenian descent to proclaim that we will not allow those
despicable events of 1915 and the Holocaust to ever happen again.
Mr. Speaker, Ellie Wiesel, Chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Council and a survivor of the Holocaust, summed it up better than I
ever could.
He said, ``Before planning the final solution, Hitler asked, `Who
remembers the Armenians?' No one remembered them, as no one remembered
the Jews.''
Mr. Speaker, I can assure you that today, all people of conscience
remember the Armenians.
Mr. TORRES. Mr. Speaker, thanks to my good friend and colleague from
California, Mr. Lehman, each April both houses of Congress pause to
honor the memory of the one and a half million Armenians who were
killed between 1915 and 1923 by agents of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in
what is known in infamy, and perhaps with some controversy, as the
Armenian Genocide.
Some would claim that our remembrance today fans the flames of
atavistic hatred and that the issue of the Ottoman Government's efforts
to destroy the Armenian people is a matter best left to scholars and
historians. I do not agree. For whatever ambiguities may be invoked in
the historic record of these events, one fact remains undeniable: the
death and suffering of Armenians on a massive scale happened, and is
deserving of recognition and remembrance.
This solemn occasion permits us to join in remembrance with the many
Americans of Armenian ancestry, to remind this country of the tragic
price paid by the Armenian community for its long pursuit of life,
liberty and freedom.
We come together each year with this act of commemoration, this year
being the 79th anniversary of this genocide, to tell the stories of
this atrocity so that we will not sink into ignorance of our capacity
to taint human progress with acts of mass murder.
The Armenian genocide was a deliberate act to kill, or deport, all
Armenians from Asia Minor, and takes its place in history with other
acts of genocide such as Stalin's destruction of the Kulaks, Hitler's
calculated wrath on the Jews, and Pol Pot's attempt to purge incorrect
political thought from Cambodia by killing all of his people over the
age of 15.
We do not have the ability to go back and correct acts of a previous
time, or to right the wrongs of the past. If we had this capacity,
perhaps we could have prevented the murders of millions of men, women
and children.
We can, however, do everything in our power to prevent such
atrocities from occurring again. To do this, we must educate people
about these horrible incidents, comfort the survivors and keep alive
the memories of those who died.
I encourage everyone to use this moment to think about the tragedy
which was the Armenian Genocide, to contemplate the massive loss of
lives--no both sides of this conflict, and to ponder the loss of the
human contributions which might have been.
Although, the massacre we depict and describe started 79 years ago,
the Armenian people continue to fight for their freedom and
independence. Today, in the Nagorno Karabagh, Armenian blood is being
shed even while negotiations continue to attempt to find a solution to
this deadly conflict.
I would like to close my remarks with an urgent plea that we use this
moment as an occasion to re-commit ourselves to the spirit of human
understanding, compassion, patience and love. For these alone are the
tools for overcoming our tragic, and uniquely human proclivity for
resolving differences and conflicts by acts of violence.
Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate the tragic
genocide and exile of the Armenian people 79 years ago. In 1915, the
Turkish Ottoman Empire began a deliberate campaign to destroy the
Armenian people. This campaign included a systematic program of murder
and expulsion of over 1,500,000 Armenian people from their historic
homeland, and effectively erased a rich culture dating back 3,000
years. Today, fewer than 80,000 Armenians remain in Turkey.
This appalling event is known as the first genocide of the 20th
century. We pause now to ensure that the Armenian genocide will never
slip into the recesses of history, but will instead be remembered as
one of the most tragic occurrences of our time.
This day of remembrance of the Armenian genocide not only honors the
victims of this terrible event, but also functions as a constant
reminder of man's ability to perform great evil. Elie Wiesel noted that
``before planning the final solution, Hitler asked, `Who remembers the
Armenians?' He was right. No one remembered them, as no one remembered
the Jews.''
Both the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust remind us that we cannot
close our eyes to the tragedies in our past. And if the past were not
enough to remind us of the horrors of which mankind is capable, then we
can look to the present in Bosnia, where ethnic cleansing is going on
right now.
The Armenian community in the United States is comprised of the
descendants of the survivors of this heinous event. In spite of the
hardships they have suffered, today Americans flourish as prominent and
successful citizens of our great Nation. Numerous such citizens, who
now reside in my congressional district in New Jersey, have contacted
me about the anguish they feel about the events of the past and the
importance of remembering these events.
Armenian-Americans in my district also tell me of their concern with
the present situation in Armenia. I refer, of course, to the awful
conflict in Nagorno-Karabagh. For nearly 6 years, ethnic Armenians in
Nagorno-Karabagh have waged an armed struggle against the Government of
Azerbaijan for the right to self-determination. I support the Armenians
in their struggle today, and commemorate their past to let the
Armenians know they are not forgotten.
We are forced to relearn again and again the lesson of the effects of
evil unchecked. Let us remember the past in the hope that it will guide
us to a better future.
Mr. DELLUMS. Mr. Speaker, April 24, 1994 marks the passage of 79
years since the planned campaign of murder by the Ottoman Turkish
government against the Armenian leadership and Armenian people. The
campaign, which lasted 8 years, killed 1.5 million Armenians and forced
the exile of millions more from their historic homelands.
On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Empire began the systematic
elimination of the Armenia leadership with executions, the disarming or
execution of other Armenian males, and the forced exile of the
surviving women, the elderly and the children through deadly deserts.
Henry Morgenthau, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey then, stated that:
The Turkish authorities gave the orders for these
deportations, they were giving the death warrant to a whole
race; they understood this well, and in their conversations
with me, they made no particular attempts to conceal the
fact.
The systematic approach to the killing of whole populations, ethnic
groups, nationalities, and other subgroups has occurred throughout the
written history of our species up to the present time. I believe that
we will, through education, through our knowledge of the past, learn to
condemn any killing as a crime against our common humanity, and that
killing of a group of people should be condemned as the highest, and
intolerable crime.
I join with people all over the world who in honoring the lives of
Armenians and commemorating the horrible, wasteful deaths of Armenians
in these 8 years, hope that we can be increasingly aware of acts of
genocide today and continue to work with the United Nations in
preventing such behavior.
Mr. BAKER of California. Mr. Speaker, today I join my colleagues and
the Armenian community worldwide in commemorating the Armenian
genocide--the deliberate and systematic annihilation of over 1.5
million Armenians, perpetrated during the years of 1915 to 1923.
There are those who question the importance of remembering a crime
that happened some 79 years ago. However, it is this indifference today
can lead to the repetition of these heinous crimes tomorrow.
History has already proven this fact. Prior to Hitler's invasion of
Poland, when asked about his intended treatment of the Jewish
population, Hitler justified the ``final solution'' by asking, ``After
all, who remembers the Armenians?'' The genocide of the Kurds in Iraq,
the genocide of the Cambodians by the Khmer Rhouge, the Jewish
Holocaust--each remind us of the horrifying genocide of the Armenians.
As we pause to reflect upon this grievous example of man's inhumanity
to man, let us strengthen our conviction that such atrocities never be
repeated.
Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in observance of the 79th
anniversary of the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Turkish Empire and
I thank my colleague, Mr. Lehman from California, for calling this
special order.
From 1915-1923, the Ottoman Turks carried out a genocide of the
Armenian people through a calculated scheme of massacres and forced
exile. One and a half million Armenian women, men and children were
killed and over 500,000 Armenians were forced from their homeland of
3000 years.
Some of those exiled from their historic motherland made their new
homes in the United States. Descendants of these Armenian exiles
continue to make valuable contributions to our society. Armenian-
Americans play an important role in California's diverse communities.
My district of San Francisco is blessed with a strong and civic-minded
Armenian-American population. This week, these San Franciscans will
remember the Armenian genocide with a commemorative program and
cultural performances. The Armenian school in San Francisco will take
time during social studies classes to teach about the horrible 8-year
genocide.
I join with my colleagues in the House and Senate as well as my
constituents in San Francisco and Armenians throughout the country and
world in honoring the memories of the many victims of the tragic
Armenian genocide.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call attention to the
National Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923. I
want to thank and commend my colleague, the gentleman from California,
Mr. Lehman, for organizing this special order and for his longstanding
commitment and leadership on this issue.
Mr. Speaker, each year, throughout the United States and the world,
Armenians and countless others pause to remember the 1.5 million
victims of this crime against humanity. On this day of remembrance,
which marks the 79th anniversary of the beginning of the genocide, the
lessons of a tragedy need to be proclaimed far and wide, for
regrettably, conflicts around the globe remind us that genocide remains
a tool of political ambitions. It is therefore vital that we rekindle
and keep alive the collective memory of the Armenian genocide.
Horrible as it was, we must not be allowed to forget this era of
unprecedented cruelty and inhumanity. The world must live with this
terrible open wound; 1.5 million Armenians perished in 1915 and 1916
alone in forced massacres. For the Armenian community this remembrance
day honors all those who were persecuted and serves as a harsh reminder
that institutionalized genocide was perpetrated against an entire
people. For many Armenian families here in America and abroad, this day
is observed so that the horror endures to help ensure that similar
horrors will never again be permitted to occur.
Our knowledge of the senseless deaths of 1.5 million Armenians must
propel us to fight to ensure that the world never revists this time of
senseless brutality. The world community cannot afford to slip into a
depth of complacency in which it again becomes possible to ignore man's
inhumanity to man. Collectively we must stand responsible for the human
rights of individuals regardless of nationality, religion, or
ethnicity.
Today we must continue a process to brand indelibly upon the world's
memory the imprint of a tragedy which must never be forgotten. The
magnitude of the Armenian genocide is too great; our responsibility to
remember that tragedy, to learn its lessons, is too pressing.
Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, April 24 will mark the 79th anniversary of
one of the most horrific periods in human history. We gather here today
to commemorate the genocide of the Armenian people from 1915 to 1922.
We must gather because Turkey, after all these years, refuses to
acknowledge these terrible deeds.
The facts, however, are undeniable. First, hundreds of Armenian
religious, political and intellectual leaders were rounded up, exiled
and eventually murdered. Over the next few months, the 250,000
Armenians in the Ottoman army were disarmed and later starved or
executed.
Deprived of their leadership, hundreds of thousands of Armenians were
uprooted from their homes, and forced to march through the bitter cold
and blistering heat of the Syrian desert. Most did not survive. The men
and boys were executed soon after entering the desert. The women,
children and elderly were subjected to rape, torture and mutilation.
The intention of the Ottoman leaders was apparent to U.S. Ambassador
Henry Morgenthau who stated,
When the Turkish authorities gave the order for these
deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a
whole race; they understood this well, and, in their
conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to
conceal this fact.
Ambassador Morgenthau continued,
I am confident that the whole history of the human race
contains no such horrible episode as this. The great
massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost
insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the Armenian
race in 1915.
This century has been witness to unparalleled human suffering and
unmatched human cruelty. The Armenian Genocide was the first attempt to
wipe out an entire people. The failure to recognize it gave Hitler
confidence. Since then, we have seen the killing fields of Pol Pot and
the horrors of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.
If we are to stop this madness from repeating itself, we must never
allow those who would cover up the Armenian genocide, or any other
genocide, to succeed. And they never will succeed as long as we
continue to gather and remember the Armenian genocide.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to bring to
your attention the grave injustices suffered by the Armenian people at
the hands of the Ottoman Turkish Empire earlier this century. On April
24, 1994 at the Armenian Genocide Monument located in Montebello's
Bicknell Park, we will commemorate the 79th anniversary of the Armenian
genocide in a ceremony honoring the victims of this tragedy.
Indeed, the second half of the 19th century proved to be a dark
period in Armenian history when the rise of their national
consciousness was met with increasingly harsh rule by the Ottoman
Turkish Government. The systematic elimination of the Armenians began
in 1894 evidenced by the deaths of close to 200,000 Armenians over a 2-
year period. Over the next three decades, the Armenian people were
methodically uprooted from their homeland, tortured, starved, and
killed.
April 24, 1915 marked the beginning of the infamous 1915 genocide
when hundreds of Armenian religious, political, and intellectual
leaders were rounded up, exiled, and eventually murdered. To further
weaken the Armenian people, the 250,000 Armenians serving in the
Ottoman Army during World War I were disarmed and placed in forced
labor battalions where they were either starved or executed while the
rest of the adult males were taken from their homes and killed. Left
without any protection, the women, children, and elderly were raped,
tortured and marched out of their homeland through the Southern
Anatolian deserts where they suffered from extreme temperatures and
lack of food and water. Over the course of the next few years, 1.5
million Armenians were killed, and more than 500,000 exiled from the
Ottoman Empire.
On this day of remembrance, let us pause to honor the memory of the
countless victims of the Armenian genocide. Let us learn from these
past injustices and vow to prevent such catastrophes from occurring
again.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am honored that my colleague, the
gentleman from California, Mr. Lehman, has invited me to join in
today's special order commemorating the tragic events that began in
1915.
I am also honored that the Armenian National Committee of America
asked me to join in this special order today, because I know how
important this commemoration is to those Armenian-Americans descended
from the survivors of those tragic massacres 79 years ago.
At that time, and over the course of several subsequent years,
hundreds of thousands of Armenians died as a result of brutal actions
taken by the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
While it is indeed my privilege to join in honoring the memory of
those thousands who died as a result of that campaign of violence and
deprivation begun 79 years ago, this commemoration is obviously not a
happy occasion.
None of us enjoys contemplating the worst aspects of mankind's
history, as illustrated by the events of 1915 and subsequent years in
Ottoman Turkey.
Still, it is important that we do so, because such historical events
hold meaning for us today.
Certainly, we cannot stop violence and suffering everywhere in the
world, but, from studying such historical events, we do understand more
clearly just what can be at stake.
Indeed, a reminder of tragic events such as those which took place
almost 80 years ago can help us to realize the lives that can possibly
be saved by a judicious application of American influence in promotion
of human rights and the peaceful settlement of conflicts.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join us today in commemorating
those hundreds of thousands of innocents who lost their lives some 79
years ago.
Let us keep their fate in mind as we consider means by which American
influence--and that of our allies--can be judiciously brought to bear
to peacefully resolve violent conflicts around the world.
Mr. BLUTE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues for this
commemoration, and I thank Mr. Lehman for arranging it.
Recent history has been the Armenian people subjected to a number of
very difficult, troubling, and tragic circumstances. From being forced
to live under the Soviet Communist regime, to the terrible 1988
earthquake--much worse than any this Nation has ever seen, to the
present blockade and violence imposed by the Azeris.
The Armenian people have long suffered.
But nothing is more tragic than the genocide which took place from
1915 to 1923--1.5 million died, countless more lost mothers and
fathers, sons and daughters, uncles and aunts, comrades and friends.
We stand here, more than half a century later, to ensure that others
will not forget.
Not forget the massacres. Not forget the persecution. Not forget the
death marches. Not forget the bloodshed. And not forget that all
citizens in the world deserve to live in freedom without the threat of
destruction by people that hate.
As Americans, our forefathers helped the Armenians by providing
millions of dollars in economic relief as well as homes and families
for thousands upon thousands of orphans.
Today, we offer our sympathy, our thoughts, and our prayers. And we
offer our resolve as representatives of the American people that this
country will speak out against racial and ethnic hatred, and do
everything in our power to see that genocide never happens again in our
world.
Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, on this day of remembrance we join together
with the Armenian-American community to reflect on a tragic period in
history when over one million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman
Empire. Each year we take time to pause and remember the victims so
that the world will never forget.
There is no crime more atrocious then the systematic murder of an
entire community of people and a culture. These are crimes against
humanity and they must be condemned everywhere. The victims must not be
allowed to be forgotten in silence. Through the efforts of the
survivors who have shared their painful memories with the world, this
crime will remain in the conscience of humanity forever.
Today we share the grief, horror and tragedy of the Armenian people.
I wish that I could say here today that genocide has ended, that it
remains only in our collective memory. Has the world community learned
nothing in the 79 years since the Armenian genocide? Too often the
world has turned a blind eye toward the systematic destruction of
communities, cultures and people.
Even today, as we pause to remember the horrors committed against the
Armenian people, we have another genocide occurring. In Goradze, and
throughout Bosnia, we are witnessing the deliberate destruction of
another people--in full sight of the world. All of our protestations of
``Never Again!'' have been for naught if we fail to relieve the
suffering in Bosnia.
Let this commemoration today serve to enhance our awareness of the
suffering in this world, so we will not become immune to suffering. Let
the remembrance of past evil strengthen our resolve to fight such evil
wherever it reoccurs in the world today.
The United States has become home to many of the descendants of the
Armenian survivors and as a nation we are dedicated to upholding the
standards for international human rights. Each of us must share the
responsibility for educating future generations about the horrors of
genocide, and must be willing to act to prevent it from happening
again.
Mr. GALLEGLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the 1.5 million
Armenians who lost their lives in the Ottoman Turkish Empire between
1915 and 1923 in what is widely recognized as the first case of
genocide in the 20th century. Given alarming developments along similar
lines in Bosnia and the African nation of Rwanda, I feel that now is a
particularly appropriate time for us to honor the memory of Armenians
who died only because of who they were and where they were--the same
reasons we can now cite in the recent deaths of many more thousands.
While Armenians continue to thrive and to make valuable and valued
contributions in Turkey, America and the world, we need only review the
sobering statistics to realize the devastating effect three decades of
persecution had on an entire race of peoples.
By the beginning of World War I, there were more than 2.5 million
Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. Today, fewer than 80,000 remain
in Turkey, mostly in Istanbul and Western Turkey. The Eastern
provinces, formerly the Armenian heartland, are virtually without
Armenians.
Thankfully, while we remember the victims of Armenian genocide today
we can also salute the estimated 1 million Americans of Armenian
descent and the profound contribution they have made to life in this
country.
It is said that history is bound to repeat itself and, sadly, man's
tendency toward genocide bears this out. I can only hope that the
memory of 1.5 million Armenians who had their lives viciously taken
from them can--in some way--underscore the fact that our basic
responsibility as human beings includes preventing others from coming
to the same end.
Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in commemoration of the
millions of Armenian victims of a horrific campaign of genocide during
the early years of this century. This is an important day for all of
us, for it is vital that we remember those who died and to prevent
similar tragedies in the future.
There should be no doubt about the extent and terrible nature of the
crimes that were committed against the Armenian people during the rule
of the Ottoman Empire. The historical record is full of appalling
details of the cruel genocide that was waged against Armenians. The
cables of our own diplomats who were there bear grim testimony to the
tragedy.
As the scale of suffering became known, the American people responded
with genuine sympathy and support for the Armenian people. We made
every effort to stop the killing, and opened our country as a refuge
from persecution. Thousands of Armenians came to the United States in
search of a new life--they and their children and grandchildren are now
successful, contributing members of our communities.
Mr. Speaker, the best way to prevent future genocide is by condemning
past genocide. There should be no question where the United States
stands on this critical human rights issue.
Just as we must never forget the Holocaust that took the lives of 6
million Jews and 7 million other Europeans;
Just as we must denounce racial and ethnic violence everywhere--from
Bosnia, to Rwanda, to South Africa, to the streets of our own nation;
So must we never forget the horrible fate of millions of Armenians
between 1915 and 1923.
To commemorate the genocide of the Armenians is to recognize past
injustices and learn from them. Only then can we ascertain that history
will not repeat itself and efforts at historical revision will be
repelled.
But no commemoration is complete without recognition of Armenia's
current struggle. We all agree that Armenia's battle for independence
has been replaced by a fight for survival.
The international community has a strong interest in stability, the
growth of democracy and economic development in the TransCaucus region.
Thus, we must support concerted efforts to bring about a cease-fire,
security guarantees of the parties and a fair, permanent resolution of
the status of Nagorno Karabagh.
In the long-term, however, political and economic progress can only
be achieved in the absence of ethnic and civil strife. We can do no
less than to continue every diplomatic effort to lift any blockades,
thwart aggression and resolve the future of Nogorno Karabagh.
We owe it to the memory of the 1.5 million Armenian victims killed
nearly 80 years ago to work to ensure peace and prosperity for their
descendants.
Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, today marks the 79th anniversary of the
Armenian genocide, an act of mass murder that took 1.5 million Armenian
lives and led to the exile of the Armenian nation from its historic
homeland.
It is of vital importance that we never forget what happened to the
Armenian people both because the only thing we can do for the victims
is to remember--and also because we forget at our own peril.
The Armenian genocide, which began 15 years after the 20th century
began, was the first act of genocide of this century but it was far
from the last. The Armenian genocide was followed by the Holocaust,
Stalin's purges, and other acts of mass murder around the world.
Adolph Hitler himself said that the world's indifference to the
slaughter in Armenia indicated that there would be no world outcry if
he undertook the mass murder of Jews, and others he considered less
than human. And he was right. It was only after the Holocaust that the
cry ``never again'' arose throughout the civilized world. But it was
too late for millions of victims. Too late for the 6 million Jews. Too
late for the 1.5 million Armenians.
Today we recall the Armenian genocide and we mourn its victims. We
also pledge that we shall do everything we can to protect the Armenian
nation against further aggression, in the Republic of Armenia, in
Nagorno-Karabagh or anywhere else. The Armenian nation lives. We must
do everything we can to ensure that it is never imperiled again.
Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Mr. Lehman and my
colleagues who are helping to raise awareness about the Armenian
genocide and memorialize the Armenians who were exterminated at the
beginning of this century.
While this was the greatest tragedy to befall the Armenian people, it
certainly is not the only one--it's one of many events that has shaken
the Armenian people.
Despite the genocide, despite the earthquake in 1988, and despite the
tragic war in Nagorno Karabagh, the Armenians have remained a strong
people, united by enduring faith and character.
The Armenian people have a powerful sense of family and know how to
take care of one another. I know this well, for these are my people.
As the only Member of Congress of Armenian descent, I know full well
how the Ottoman empire decimated our people and wrote one of the
darkest chapters in human history. I am committed to ensure that the
suffering of my people does not go unnoticed.
April 24, 1915, was the day hundreds of Armenian leaders were
arrested and executed in Istanbul and other areas. As we approach the
79th anniversary of this event, we remember the martyrs and honor their
memory--as well as the memory of the 1.5 million Armenians who later
followed them in death at the hands of the Ottoman empire.
We do this because it is our moral obligation to remind the world
that a great tragedy was inflicted upon our people, that the murder of
Armenians was a catastrophe for the entire family of nations, and that
unchecked aggression leads to atrocity.
We do this because these lessons of the Armenian genocide are
overlooked with people turn their backs on modern Armenians being
hunted down in Nagorno Karabagh and Bosnian Muslims are subjected to
ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia.
We do this because by mourning the losses of our past, we renew our
determination to forge a future in which our people can live in peace,
prosperity, and freedom. This week, Armenians around the world raise
their voices as one and declare that what took place 79 years ago
should not and cannot be forgotten.
It has been said that, ``Those who can not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.'' Although this quotation has been repeated
often, its meaning cannot be lost or trivialized.
The Armenian genocide should have been a lesson to the world. But
instead, this tragedy was forgotten or denied. Prior to his invasion of
Poland in 1939, when warned if such an atrocity may outrage world
opinion, Adolph Hitler told his commanders not to worry. ``After all''
he said, ``Who remembers the Armenians?'' Like the Holocaust and the
Cambodian genocide, the Armenian genocide serves to remind us of the
dangers inherent in hatred and intolerance. Especially today, when acts
of hate seem to be proliferating all over the world, we need to
remember. And for those who are falling victim to ethnic violence
today, I offer them the example of my people, the Armenians. I pray
that they keep the faith and the strength that my people have.
In addition, I pray that they maintain their sense of family, for it
is these values which maintain the Armenians' resilience, despite the
many calamities that have threatened their very existence.
Again, I thank my colleague Mr. Lehman, and all my colleagues who
have joined us here today to remember this tragedy.
We must do all we can to prevent this tragic history from repeating
itself.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, in less than a week, we will be
commemorating the anniversary of the Armenian genocide, a dark episode
in the history of mankind. Seventy-nine years ago this month, we
remember the 1.5 million Armenians who died in the Armenian holocaust.
This sad chapter in human history should remind us that we need to
constantly be on guard against the dark side of human character.
Armenia, is not alone, it shares a period of mourning with all too many
other nations.
Stalin's starvation of Ukraine, the Nazis slaughter of European
Jewry, Mao's China, and Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge point out man's
inclination for inhumanity toward others.
Genocide could well be a remnant of our barbaric past. Unfortunately,
it is still being used by some barbarians today. Serbia's campaign of
``ethnic cleansing,'' or Iraq's feud with the Kurds, or the Burmese
regime's battle with the Karens, or the situation we have watch spin
out of control recently in Rawanda--genocide is part of our reality,
now.
I join today with the Armenian people in remembrance of all past and
present victims of genocide. They are victims of evil. One of my hopes
is that by remembering this tragedy we will have the wisdom to avoid it
and the courage to stand up against it.
I visited the Armenian Holocaust Memorial in Yerevan, the Capital of
Armenia, placing a flower at the eternal torch. It was a solemn moment.
Good and decent people must remember and commit themselves to a better
world where genocide is studied only in history books. But even in
those books, the slaughter of the Armenian people will remain a tragic
chapter indeed.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Lehman for his
leadership in once again giving this House the opportunity to address
the deep concerns many of us have about developments in Armenia.
Over the course of my years in Congress, we have been engaged on many
fronts on the Armenia issue--whether it be emergency relief after the
massive earthquake that devastated the country in 1988, trying to
address the suffering and deprivation caused by the withering blockade
of Armenia imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey, or offering support for
efforts to end the fighting in the region through a negotiated peace
process.
I am reminded again today that the first action I saw when I came to
the Congress with regard to Armenia was the attempt to get this
Congress to recognize the Armenian genocide on April 24, 1915--the
beginning of a terrible campaign against the Armenian people that
resulted in the killing of tens of thousands of people merely on the
basis of their nationality.
While the experience of trying to win recognition of the Armenian
genocide was a painful one, I must say that the vast majority of my
work on issues of Armenia and with the Armenian community here in the
United States has been a joyful experience.
I have been inspired by the ability of the Armenian community here to
make a deep and lasting contribution to our Nation--to our schools and
neighborhoods, in the areas of art and culture, and in the political
arena. My home State of Massachusetts has one of the most vibrant and
active Armenian communities in the United States and we are a better,
stronger State because of that.
At the same time, Armenians in the United States have done a
tremendous job of maintaining their own culture, their language and
their churches, and a remarkable commitment to maintaining ties to
their homeland or the homeland of their ancestors.
The commitment, and a capacity to respond, has of course been
demonstrated in moments of crisis such as the earthquake. Thirty
thousand people were killed in an instant. In many parts of the country
there was incalculable damage to homes, to factories, and to
infrastructure. Thousands of Armenians continue to live today, 6 years
later, without electricity or running water in makeshift shelters that
were set up in the wake of the loss of their homes.
The response of the Armenian community in the United States was
phenomenal. They provided food, clothing, medicine, and funds. Just as
importantly, they challenged this Nation, and other nations around the
world, to recognize the extraordinary scale of damage done by the
earthquake and to provide the resources that were needed to address
this humanitarian disaster. It is important to recognize that the
humanitarian challenge posed by the earthquake has yet to be fully met.
I was pleased to see that just this February the World Bank released a
long-delayed loan designed to rebuild housing and repair other damage
from the earthquake.
While the earthquake--a dramatic event--focused the attention of the
international community, the blockade against Armenia, which remains in
place until this day, exacts its terrible, unrelenting cost, day in and
day out, over years. It has driven a proud and determined people to
face the types of choices that no civilized nation should have to
confront--the choice, for example, of stripping the nation of trees and
burning its books in order to provide heat to prevent infants and the
elderly from freezing to death.
It is absolutely crucial that the United States remain clear and
focused in its efforts to secure the lifting of this blockade and the
opening up of commerce, transportation, and communication throughout
the Transcaucasus. This means maintaining the prohibition against
United States assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan until they are
willing to lift the blockade. And it means continued pressure on the
government of Turkey--which receive more than $500 million in United
States economic aid and military loans--to do the same.
We must maintain this pressure not out of vengeance, but as a sign of
our commitment to finding a solution that opens up all the borders in
the region. If this type of arrangement can be put together--whereby
Turkey and Azerbaijan lift their blockade against Armenia--then I think
there is no question that there would be overwhelming support in the
Congress, and I think in the Armenian community in the United States,
for lifting the restriction on direct assistance to the Government of
Azerbaijan as well.
Finally, I think it is important to use this opportunity provided by
the gentleman from California for the Congress to make a renewed
commitment to support the search for peace in the Transcaucasus. Since
1988 more than 15,000 have been killed and 1 million people made
refugees in Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan. At several
points in the past year the fighting has threatened to spill into or
draw in other countries.
Time and time again, ceasefires and talk of peace have been drowned
out by the rumble of tanks, the slam of artillery and mortars, and the
recoil of rifles.
Our Nation must make every effort, alone and with others in the
international community, to bring this fighting to an end. We must make
it clear to all parties to the conflict that it cannot be solved
militarily, and that the only path forward is through a negotiated
settlement, which includes strong security guarantees, backed by the
international community.
Workable proposals, along these lines, have been advanced by the
Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The most recent CSCE
proposal was accepted by the leaders of the Republic of Armenia and the
leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh, but did not win the assent of Azerbaijan.
As the new CSCE lead diplomat on this matter attempt to fashion a way
forward, the United States must be engaged vigorously, at the highest
levels, bringing every measure of pressure and support that we can to
bring this conflict to a close. In the end, our active and unrelenting
involvement in the search for peace may be the highest tribute that we
can pay to the courageous people of Armenia.
Mr. FORD of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak about the history
of Armenia. It is a tragic history, but one we must remember.
On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman government began the genocide of the
Armenian people by rounding up Armenian religious, political, and
intellectual leaders. The government systematically deported every
Armenian from every city, town, and village in its control. Deportees
who were not immediately executed were forced on death marches. They
were tortured, raped, and mutilated. Over a million Armenians died.
Some Armenians escaped death. They went on to Europe, Russia, and the
United States. Stronger for the tragedy they endured, they live with
the knowledge that they are the representatives of a race that was
nearly eliminated. In our country, they and their children became
Americans and prospered--but they did not forget their own history. In
the metro Detroit area, parts of which I represent, local Armenian
Americans will gather on Saturday to commemorate the 79th anniversary
of the beginning of this holocaust.
While we commemorate this genocide, others deny it. It remains
incomprehensible to me that the present government of Turkey denies the
truth regarding its own history. It is important that Turkey
acknowledge and accept responsibility for the mistakes of the past.
Last year, I attended the solemn opening of the Holocaust Museum in
Washington, DC. The Germans have acknowledged their role in the
Holocaust. It is a tragic event in German history, but the Germans
recognize its importance, have learned from it, and have regained the
world's respect. It is long past time that the government of Turkey
also acknowledge its history.
Whether Turkey acknowledges its role or not, it is important that we,
as a Nation, voice our commitment to remembering this crime against
humanity. In remembering, we seek to honor those who suffered and those
who died and we seek to remain vigilant to prevent future atrocities.
Mr. WALSH. Mr. Speaker, central New York is a place of diverse
cultures, very much a cross-section of America in the late 20th
Century. Our Nation is stronger because of immigrants who have come
searching for freedom. Among those groups are Armenian Americans, who
have thrived in my hometown and have laid groundwork for their
children's future. Sadly, as we salute their hard work and faith, we
must mention in the same breath the very reason most Armenians came to
America. Because today, as we do each April, we force ourselves to
remember the Armenian Genocide, a holocaust victimizing not only the
1.5 million people massacred by the Turkish Ottoman Empire, but those
who were forced to abandon their ancient homeland.
The details of the inhumanity are repulsive to us who live side by
side with children and grandchildren of the survivors. We remember,
easily in some cases, that prejudice has taken many forms against many
groups of immigrants. But in few cases has the horror of intense hatred
in the homeland reached a level of viciousness that it bears the name
of genocide. This has been true of the Armenian people.
I sympathize today with the descendants of those who died, and those
who came to America. I condemn the acts, past and present, which are
carried out against a people in the name of nationalism or any other
cause. And I thank God with my Armenian American friends today that
they have brought their culture to our great Nation. Their children
will carry forward their customs, their pride, their spirit into the
ages, and all our children are better for knowing this.
I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting Armenian Americans on
this day, and in condemning the aggression of genocide against their
ancestors.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, today I join voices with my colleagues in
Congress and Armenians all over the world as we commemorate the 79th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The massacre of one and a half
million Armenians, carried out from 1915 until 1923, reminds us of the
consequences of silence in the face of oppression. I join the voices
calling for recognition of this tragedy once again this year because
the horrible truth of the Armenian Genocide is still not universally
recognized, even after 79 years.
We call attention to the reality of the Ottoman Empire's systematic
persecution of Armenians in part so that such inhumanity is not
tolerated again, ever. Our outspoken support for the rights of all
people is more important than ever as we witness the systematic warfare
and extermination claiming the lives of innocent civilians caught in
ethnic conflicts today. In Bosnia, the practice of ethnic cleansing
threatens the survival of an entire people. In Nagorno Karabagh, ethnic
Armenians face oppression and persecution as they strive for self-
determination.
Those who would take advantage of our indifference must be reminded
of our steadfast support for the rights of people al over the world.
Our remembrance of the loss of one and a half million lives is our
declaration of absolute opposition to such acts of inhumanity and our
statement of hope for a world free of genocide.
Felix Corley of the Wall Street Journal called the plight of Nagorno-
Karabagh ``The Forgotten War;''. We cannot allow the world to forget,
again, the ongoing suffering of these persecuted peoples, In Michigan
yesterday, thousands read the story of the Armenian Genocide as told in
the Detroit News by Robert Ourlian. Many of the 500,000 survivors of
the genocide made their homes in Metro Detroit, and have been an
important part of the economic and cultural growth of the Detroit area.
Their personal stories of escape from death vividly illustrate the
atrocities inflicted upon the Armenian people.
One of the stories told in the News is that of Alex Manoogian. Mr.
Manoogian is a well-known figure to the public as the founder of a
major American corporation and as a leader in the Armenian American
community, yet he is also a very private person. He has rarely
discussed his memories of the painful events of 1915-1923 that tore
apart families and left children and the elderly to fend for
themselves. Mr. Manoogian shared the story of his flight from Armenia
and his own long separation from his family, a story not known to the
many Detroit-area residents familiar with Mr. Manoogian for his success
in the business arena and generosity in the community. Alex Manoogian
is already well-known as a community leader--by giving his own account
of the genocide, he continues to lead the Armenian American community
in showing the strength of those who survived the Armenian Genocide and
their commitment to reuniting their families in peace. I join them
today in remembrance of the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in the
hope that one day the terrible truths of history will be acknowledged
all over the world as we acknowledge them here.
Armenian Deaths Grip Survivors
(By Robert Ourlian)
All too quietly, they are dying. By ones and twos, each
day, they fade into a murky memory the world has never much
cared to recall.
They are the few remaining survivors of what they know as
the Armenian genocide, when, historians estimate, 1.5 million
people were killed in the century's first planned holocaust.
The genocide, steadfastly denied by modern day Turkey, is
acknowledged by the rest of the world. It began in 1915,
after the beginning of World War I, and the killing didn't
end until 1923.
``I don't care what they say, ``said survivor Art Kloian,
94, of Dearborn. ``What I saw, how I lived, nobody can
deny.''
The survivors made their mark in communities around the
world, including Metro Detroit, which holds one of the
nation's largest populations of uprooted Armenians and their
descendants. As they age the tragedy almost seems compounded.
Their stories were never fully told, their cases never heard.
And now new issues are confronting Armenians in Metro
Detroit, as a railway and fuel blockade of newly independent
Armenia by neighboring Azerbaijan enters its seventh year,
and war continues between Azeris and Armenians living in the
Azerbaijani enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Here are the experiences of four who survived the 1915-1923
genocide, and even prospered.
Alex Manoogian's Roots
The life and times of Detroit industrialist Alex Manoogian
is usually framed in terms of business, charity and culture.
He speaks of his early days in terms of jobs found and lost,
and factories where he learned his skills. He ranks with
America's greatest entrepreneurs.
Only rarely has the 92-year-old founder of Masco Corp.
spoken of the part of his life when he almost lost his family
to the last convulsions of the genocide.
Manoogian and his family lived near the port town of
Smyrna, on the Aegean Sea, in an area untouched by the
brutality of the massacres until the end of World War I.
Ottoman rulers were careful in areas like Smyrna, now called
Izmir, places filled with foreign businesses and diplomats,
he said.
As a young teen, Manoogian spoke several languages and was
popular among business owners in his home town of Kasaba for
his skill in languages and management. His father was a
prominent local businessman and treasurer of the local
Armenian church.
He was attending school in Smyrna when news reached the
western coast about trouble in the empire's interior.
``We were nervous about what might eventually happen to
us,'' Manoogian said. ``We were all packed up and ready to go
should we be deported. People even put coins and money in
their belts. We were that ready.''
But the community's archbishop told the congregation one
Sunday that if unspecified ``revolutionaries'' surrendered,
``then we might have a chance not to be deported.''
The next morning, Manoogian saw perhaps 60 people--
``revolutionaries''--filing through town to surrender to
police.
They were never seen again. Their surrender appeased the
authorities for the time being.
Back in Kasaba, though, things weren't calm. The Manoogian
family remained largely unbothered, but young Alex wondered
about his future in Ottoman Turkey.
``After the war was over, the Greeks took over Smyrna,'' he
said. ``I thought, the Greek army is here today, so we're OK.
But we're Armenians. I didn't think we would remain safe.
``People kept telling me, get out of here. Go to America.''
That's what he did. He bought a ticket on a boat,
reluctantly told his parents and arrived in Bridgeport,
Conn., at the age of 18. Soon his earlier fears for the
safety of the Armenians came true.
The Turkish Army had begun pushing the Greeks back toward
the Aegean. As the army stormed through Kasaba, Manoogian's
family--father, pregnant mother, brother and two sisters--
were forced to flee.
``In Kasaba, we had been in good shape, but everything was
in property, furniture, and there was very little in cash,''
he said. ``They had to leave with nothing, nothing.''
They were pushed to Smyrna and to the seashore. There,
according to accounts of atrocities, thousands were burned
out of entire sections of town and forced into the open sea,
where waiting Allied ships scooped out those they could
reach.
Manoogian's family escaped that fate, but his father was
arrested and placed into a mountainside concentration camp
along with the father of one of his young business partners.
The partner's father died.
His pregnant mother hid his two sisters under blankets and
skirts as they roamed the shore and the docks looking for a
way to get out.
``There were 100,000 people there waiting for boats to
leave, for weeks, with no food.
``In America, I hadn't heard from my family. I asked
everybody I knew and nobody could say. Nobody (coming over)
had seen them.
``I though they were dead.''
Weeks later, nearly crazy from worry, Manoogian heard they
had survived and were in Greece, apparently in a refugee
camp. The ambitious young man began making plans to bring
them to America.
``Just then, they instituted the quotas'' for immigrants,
he said.
The result: His family would have to wait 10 years before
coming to America.
By that time the Great Depression was beginning and the
fledgling company Manoogian had started with two friends was
struggling for survival.
Masco eventually became a Fortune 500 firm, and the
Manoogian name is one of Detroit's biggest. But for
Manoogian, his family's survival remains the ultimate
miracle.
orphan no. 947
She remembers his name as Taifet Effendi, a Turkish man who
at first quietly--and later openly--opposed the Young Turk
regime which ordered the deportation and extermination of
Armenian citizens in 1915.
Taifet Effendi owned land and houses, and designated some
of them as residences for Armenians to spare them from the
slaughter. He was, in a small way, an Oskar Schindler of an
earlier holocaust.
``If there weren't good Turks, there wouldn't be any Armenians left
today,'' recalled Nazele Sarkisian, an 85-year-old Detroiter who lived
through it.
Naele Sarkisian's earliest memory is that of a death march,
when soldiers came to her village near Baiburt.
``Get out! Everybody out of your house!'' the soldiers
yelled.
Within an hour, they were on a road, no food or water,
little clothing and less mercy. The orders were to deport and
``destroy completely'' the Armenian population.
``They took us out of our houses, hundreds of us, the whole
village,'' she said.
Those who survived or escaped often did so through an
unlikely fluke.
`I don't know why they didn't see us, but we got away,''
she said. At the age of 6, she was on her own with her big
sister, lost in the middle of a war zone, on her way to a
region that became known as ``the Slaughterhouse Province.''
Soon, a passing horseman scooped the two girls up and
trotted off, then put Nazele back down and left with her
sister. It was the last time the two saw each other.
As the Turkish ``gendarnes'' left the area, sympathetic
Turkish villagers came out to see if they could help. A woman
fed her, then turned her over to people who would arrange for
a Turkish family to adopt her.
Eventually she found her way to the household of Armenians
kept safe by Taifet Effendi.
Not long after, however, Effendi became embroiled in a
conflict with Ottoman governors and was executed. After six
years in a safe household, Nazele found herself in an
orphanage again.
The Americans who ran the orphanage issued here a number--
947--that was stamped or sewn on the sleeves and legs of her
clothing, a number she clearly remembers nearly 80 years and
a world away from Effendi's house.
a sad potato harvest
Adrian Gurganian had been attending school in the cultural
Ottoman center of Constantinople (now Istanbul). But she was
home for vacation in her family's plush garden estate in
outlying Adapazar when trouble started during the annual
potato harvest.
Ottoman troops surrounded the town and ordered Armenian
inhabitants to round up their belongings and head for the
train station. They were loaded into freight cars, so crowded
they couldn't sit. The tactic was a precursor of the Nazis'
later treatment of the Jews.
For four days, the train chugged southward across the
empire, on the edge of Der Zor, the huge concentration camp
in the desert where an estimated 200,000 of the deaths by
starvation, exposure and massacres are believed to have taken
place.
``Then we walked,'' Gurganian now 90, said.
The family started out as a father, mother and five
daughters. Adrian was the middle daughter.
``My father went down a hillside into a river to get us
water, but when the Turkish policemen saw him, they beat him,
so hard. He never recovered.''
Bodies lined the roadways and floated in ditches and
rivers. Her father's last wish was for a more dignified end.
``I remember him saying to us, `Please, please bury me.' We
tried to bury him, but the Turks were beating us. `Move!
Move!' they were saying. We had to leave him.''
A short distance later, the family turned around for a last
look at their dead father, only to see locals stripping
clothes from his lifeless body.
Weeks later her mother died along the roadway.
The five sisters, including Adrian, who was then about 12,
were left alone. She lost them one by one.
``My oldest sister--some man came and took her,'' Adrian
said. ``My next oldest sister didn't want to go to the Turks.
She jumped in the river and drowned herself.''
One night, we were in a tent and my one little sister was
crying, `Water, water,' There was no water. After a while,
she stopped crying. She stopped crying because she died.
``It was just me and my one sister, and a man came and took
her.''
Finally, a local Arab girl helped her flee. After several
days, they arrived in Baghdad, where the rescuer's family
shaved off Adrian's lice-infested hair and adopted her.
She later ran away and wound up in a local orphanage,
learned nursing and eventually went to the U.S., where she
married and raised a family, which earned its share of local
fame: Her son-in-law was the late Leo Derderian, owner of
Detroit's Anchor Bar, a legendary local saloon now operated
by her grandson, Vaughn.
no more hatred
In the nearly 80 years since his village and family were
wiped out, Monsignor Joseph Kalajian of Detroit has had time
to wonder about the reasons for the atrocities. The answers
remain elusive.
His family lived modestly in Kefardes, near Kharpert in the
western Armenian portion of the Ottoman empire. His father, a
metalsmith, paid his taxes; a picture of the Ottoman Sultan
adorned a wall in their house.
``The scenery was so beautiful--mountains, valleys,
gardens,'' said Kalajian, who was seven when the massacres
began. ``We were very respectful to the government. We had no
arms, except maybe something for hunting.
``I remember thinking: These are innocent people who
committed no crime. Why this terrible, terrible punishment?
``The deportation was to the deserts, from north to
south,'' he said. ``It lasted about five weeks; we walked.
``I witnessed--I saw by my eyes--the bodies, the cadavers
of Armenians killed. Bodies everywhere, on the mountainside,
in the valleys, in the deserts.''
The horrors began in the summer of 1915; he remembers,
because along the way, the grapes had ripened.
He last saw his two sisters in Ourfa before they were taken
away by locals; his father was conscripted into the Turkish
Army's labor battalion and, likely, was killed. Because his
mother had died years earlier, Kalajian was alone on the
death march at the age of eight.
All he remembers of his salvation was lying, sick,
malnourished and probably near death in the vicinity of Der
Zor when an Arabic woman took him in and nursed him back to
health. Afterward, he lived through orphanages and, believing
he had been spared for a reason, studied theology, philosophy
and music and went into the priesthood.
He has published several books, among them a volume of
poetry in 1972 that reveals his memories of his native
Kefardes, as well as vivid recollections of the genocide.
Today, at age 86, Kalajian is not yet at peace.
``I suffer even today when I think of my sisters, my
father, all that I had to witness by my own eyes,'' he said.
``I have no more hatred. But I want justice.''
Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues in honoring the memory
of 1\1/2\ million Armenians who perished at the hands of the Ottoman
Turkish Government between the years of 1915 and 1923. As a result of
the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire
was effectively eliminated through a carefully executed government
plan.
Although the facts of the Armenian Genocide are well documented,
there are still those who seek to rewrite the history of the first
genocide of the 20th century. For this reason I want to enter into the
Congressional Record a statement by former U.S. Ambassador Henry
Morgenthau who served during the period of the Armenian Genocide.
When the Turkish authorities gave the order for these
deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a
whole race; they understood this well, and, in their
conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to
conceal this fact.
At the beginning of World War I, there were more than 2,500,000
Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. Today fewer than 80,000
Armenians remain in Turkey, predominantly in Istanbul and Western
Turkey. The Armenian heartland--the Eastern provinces--are virtually
without Armenians.
That part of the world has changed greatly in the past 80 years and
there is nothing to be gained in blaming today's Turks for what
happened then. But we should not allow ourselves to forget what
happened then.
On this day in April, 79 years after the beginning of the 1915
Genocide, it is appropriate that we pause to honor the memory of these
slaughtered Armenians. We can honor their memory by doing all we can to
stop genocide wherever it occurs, to remind people of the evil in
ethnic hatred and resentment.
Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues in
commemorating the 79th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. We honor
tonight the Armenian men, women, and children whose lives were so
ruthlessly cut short 79 years ago.
Mr. Speaker, I stand here tonight to pay homage and invoke the memory
of the fallen victims of the Armenian Genocide. I stand here tonight to
remember the unspeakable acts of violence and horror perpetrated upon a
defenseless people. I stand here tonight to shed some light on one of
the darkest chapters in human history.
On April 24, 1915, the rulers of the Ottoman Empire began the
systematic extermination of the Armenian people. Never before had a
government been so committed toward eliminating a culture, a language
and an entire race of people. From 1915 to 1923, Armenians were singled
out as a minority for extermination.
As the conflagration of World War I engulfed Europe, the desert
marches of forced starvation, disease and massacres consumed the lives
of 1.5 million Armenians. Either through apathy or indifference, the
world allowed the forces of hatred and intolerance to wreck havoc on
the Armenian people--a people who refused to be relegated to the ash
heap of history.
Since 79 years have elapsed since the beginning of the Armenian
Genocide. And yet, on this solemn day, Turkey still refuses to
acknowledge its tainted past. How much longer can Turkey ignore its
sordid history? How much longer can Turkey deny its own past? The
Ottoman rulers were guilty of conducting a deliberate, calculated
campaign of mass extermination. Nothing can erase this from the annals
of history.
Mr. Speaker, in the name of progress in Armenian-Turkish relations,
it is time for Turkey to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. The facts
of the Armenian Genocide cannot and will not be denied.
Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues in
honoring the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
Between 1915 and 1923 a systematic and deliberate campaign of
genocide by the Ottoman Empire resulted in the deaths of over 1.5
million Armenians and the exile of a nation from its historic homeland.
The massacres were condemned by Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish
Republic, but the lack of punishment for the perpetrators led Adolph
Hitler to cite the Armenian Genocide as precedent for the Holocaust.
Mr. Speaker, the lesson we must learn from the Armenian Genocide, and
the Holocaust, is that never again can decent people simply ignore the
oppression and brutality, and ultimately genocide, that we have
witnessed this century.
as we look back today on this tragic episode in world history, I hope
that our collective conscience will not allow the recurrence of
genocide. Such deliberate destruction of a people must be loudly and
clearly condemned and those who would consider genocide must be
convinced that the international community will not tolerate the
extermination of a nation.
Mr. Speaker, I am both proud and saddened to commemorate the Armenian
Genocide. I am proud to pay tribute to its survivors, to honor its
victims, and to reinforce our own determination to ensure that such
acts of inhumanity will not be repeated. I am saddened by the fact that
the world remains a place where such atrocities can still happen.
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues from
California Congressman Lehman and Congresswoman Eshoo, in commemoration
of one of the saddest and most tragic events of human history: The
genocide of the Armenian People during the latter half of the 19th
century.
In joining my colleagues, I also want to heartily commend them for
taking this time that we may speak about this very disturbing chapter
in world history. It is a story that is widely known, however, there is
little mention of it in our history books. For while it may be painful
to review these events, as long as this is the case--as long as we
experience this discomfort and pain--there is hope for humanity.
Unfortunately, the plight of the Armenians and the attempted genocide
of 1915 by the Ottoman Turks is an event that the U.S. Government has
still not recognized. In a time where human rights are in the forefront
of all of our minds we must recognize the struggles that the Armenians
have gone through in 1915 as well as the present with the current
Azerbijan blockade.
Indeed, in few other instances has man's inhumanity to man been
demonstrated so starkly than in the persecution of the Armenians by the
Ottoman Empire. And while some 1,500,000 Armenian people died and
another 500,000 were exiled between 1915 and 1923, this was but the
brutal culmination of events stretching back to 1894.
In that year, 300,000 Armenians were massacred, and in 1909, a
further 21,000 perished--all before what is generally considered to be
the true genocide beginning 6 years later.
As an American of Greek descent, I always have felt a special tie to
the Armenian people, because the land of my ancestors also suffered at
the hands of the Ottoman Turks. My colleagues may know that every
March, I sponsor a special order in this Chamber to commemorate Greek
Independence Day on March 25.
That date marks the beginning of Greece's struggle for independence
from more than 400 years of domination by the Ottoman Empire. It was on
that day that the Greek People began a series of uprisings against
their Turkish oppressors, uprisings which soon turned into a
revolution.
Greece was more fortunate than Armenia. It did not suffer the dark
events that we commemorate today: Whole villages exterminated,
thousands and thousands rounded up and literally worked to death.
However, Greeks, too, know what it means to labor under oppression.
The Greek struggle for independence and the Armenian Genocide are two
events that erupted in the same region of the world and that fit neatly
together to form a message.
It is a message that rings down through the ages and must never be
ignored. The message is this: We must continue to speak out, to raise
our voices in protest of the mistreatment of our fellow human beings.
This is a simple matter of right versus wrong.
It is our duty to call attention to human rights abuses on any scale
until the world is united in revulsion for these atrocities; until
those yearning only to live free are allowed to do so.
Mr. CONDIT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 1.5 million
Armenians that were exterminated by the Turkish Ottoman Empire between
1915 and 1923.
On April 24, 1915, hundreds of religious, political and intellectual
leaders were rounded up, exiled and eventually murdered. The male
population, already conscripted into the Ottoman Army, was disarmed,
placed in work battalions, and gradually executed: The surviving women
were sent on death marches through the desert.
Those who survived this massacre were permanently exiled from their
historic homeland. The Turkish Ottoman Empire pursued a deliberate
campaign to systematically eliminate the Armenian people and erase a
culture and its history that dates back 3000 years.
The Armenian Community in this Nation exists largely as a result of
the Armenian genocide, as most are direct descendants of survivors.
Mr. Speaker, we must recognize such crimes against humanity and never
allow them to be forgotten; for only then can we prevent them from ever
occurring again.
Mr. MEEHAN. Mr. Speaker, on May 28, 1918, Armenia declared its
independence from the Ottoman Empire. In doing so, it was victorious in
its struggle against that hostile government and soon began a new
struggle to overcome the effects of the deplorable Genocide of 1915 and
1916.
This April, we commemorate the 79th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide so as to honor the memory of the countless victims of this
tragedy. Over one and a half million innocent people were massacred and
those who survived were permanently exiled from their historic
homeland. for more than 80 years the Armenian people labored against
oppression, working to maintain their culture, language and church.
On September 21, 1991, the Armenian people, through a national
referendum, chose independence from the former Soviet Union, whose Red
Army had crushed the nationalist movement in 1921. On December 25,
1991, the United States officially recognized Armenia as an independent
sovereign nation.
While this is a significant step, and we welcome Armenia into the
family of nations, I am fearful that the Azeri blockade of Armenia will
cause history to repeat itself. I am keenly interested in trying to
alleviate this desperate situation. Turkey must be persuaded to
influence the Azerbaijanis to end their blockade of Armenia. It is
imperative that humanitarian aid be able to reach this beleaguered
nation, but it cannot be fully successful until there is peace in the
area.
The United States has a strong interest in safeguarding Armenia, for
the two countries are closely linked by strong democratic principles
and a strong trading partnership. I have advocated on behalf of Armenia
with the Department of State, requesting that the United States
intervene in this crisis and lead the way toward an international aid
effort. I believe that the Clinton administration's proposed repeal of
the ban on U.S. aid to Azerbaijan is inappropriate until such time as
the conditions set forth in Section 907 of the Freedom of Support Act
are fulfilled. Any attempt to weaken or eliminate the restriction on
aid to Azerbaijan will send the wrong message to the Azeri government:
that the United States is not committed to democratic and human rights.
As I have said: let the past be a reference point for the present and
the future. The International Community must recognize the atrocities
that took place during the Armenian Genocide, for only then can we
guard against a repetition of that low point in history.
Mr. BLUTE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues for this
commemoration, and I thank Mr. Lehman for arranging it.
Recent history has seen the Armenian people subjected to a number of
very difficult, troubling and tragic circumstances. From being forced
to live under the Soviet Communist regime, to the terrible 1988
earthquake--much worse than any this Nation has ever seen, to the
present blockade and violence impose by the Azeris.
The Armenian people have long suffered.
But nothing is more tragic than the genocide which took place from
1915 to 1923; 1.5 million died, countless more lost mothers and
fathers, sons and daughters, uncles and aunts, comrades and friends.
We stand here, more than half a century later, to ensure that others
will not forget.
Not forget the massacres. Not forget the persecution. Not forget the
death marches. Not forget the bloodshed. And not forget that all
citizens in the world deserve to live in freedom without the threat of
destruction by people that hate.
As Americans, our forefathers helped the Armenians by providing
millions of dollars in economic relief as well as homes and families
for thousands upon thousands of orphans. Armenians-Americans have
helped build our country and have done much to make this the great
country that it is.
Today, we offer our sympathy, our thoughts and our prayers, and we
offer our resolve as representatives of the American people that this
country will speak out against racial and ethnic hatred, and do
everything in our power to see that genocide never happens again in our
world.
Mr. DOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues once
again in remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.
In commemorating this terrible human tragedy, it is important for us
to remember other such tragedies that have occurred throughout history.
Few however, have resulted in such devastating effects on an entire
country and its people. Since the opening of the Jewish Holocaust
Museum last year and most recently, the release of and acclaim for the
film ``Schindler's List,'' the Jewish Holocaust has been at the center
of human consciousness regarding the history of human tragedies and
genocide. Let us remember that the Armenian Genocide was the historical
basis of the Nazis' plan for the Jewish Holocaust. Today we must
remember the Armenian Genocide and reflect upon the suffering endured
by Armenia and her people.
One and one-half million Armenian people were massacred by the
Ottoman Turkish Empire between 1915 and 1923. More than 500,000
Armenians were exiled from a homeland that their ancestors had occupied
for more than 3,000 years. A race of people was nearly eliminated.
However great the loss of human life and homeland that occurred
during the genocide, a greater tragedy would be to forget that the
Armenian Genocide ever happened. Adolf Hitler, predicted that no one
would remember the atrocities and human suffering endured by the
Armenians, years prior to unleashing his plans for the Jewish
Holocaust. After all, it was Hitler who posed the question, ``Who
remembers the Armenians?'' Our statements today are intended to
preserve the memory of the Armenian loss, and to remind the world that
the Turkish Government--to this day--refuses to acknowledge the
Armenian genocide.
This 79th anniversary also brings to my mind the current suffering of
the Armenian people, who are still immersed in tragedy and violence.
The unrest between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues in Nagorno-
Karabakh. Thousands of innocent people have already perished in this
dispute, and still many more have been displaced and are homeless.
Frustrating the situation is the continuing destruction of fuel and
power lines, as well as the blockade of supply routes into Armenia
through neighboring Georgia and Turkey.
In the face of this difficult situation comes an opportunity for
reconciliation. Now is the time for Armenia and its neighbors,
including Turkey, to come together, to work toward a sustaining peace
and to rebuild relationships between countries. The first step in this
process should be an ending of the blockages that are hampering the
recovery of Armenia, and her people.
meanwhile, in America, the Armenian-American community continues to
thrive and to provide assistance and solidarity to its countrymen and
women abroad. Now numbering nearly 1 million, the Armenian-American
community is bound together by strong generational and family ties, an
enduring work ethic and a proud sense of ethnic heritage. Today we
recall the tragedy of their past, not to place blame, but to answer a
fundamental question, ``Who remembers the Armenians?''
Today our commemoration of the Armenian genocide speaks directly to
that end, and I answer.--We do.
Mr. MOORHEAD. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 79th anniversary
of the Armenian genocide, and wish to thank and commend my colleague,
Mr. Lehman, for arranging this special order to pay tribute to the
Armenian martyrs, who were victims of one of the worst genocides of
this century. On April 24, 1915, hundreds of Armenian religious,
political, and intellectual leaders were rounded up, exiled, and
eventually murdered in remote places. In the following years from 1915
to 1923, 1\1/2\ million men, women, and children were murdered in an
attempted genocide of the Armenian people by the government of the
Ottoman Empire. Each year, throughout the United States and the world,
Armenians and all people of good conscience pause to remember the 1.5
million victims of this crime against all humanity. Many of the
children and grandchildren of survivors of this Holocaust live in my
hometown of Glendale, CA and will participate in a ceremony, on Sunday,
April 24 at the Armenian Genocide Monument located in Montebello, CA.
This significant event in being organized by the commemorative council
which includes leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian
Catholic Church, and the Armenian Protestant Church. On this occasion,
it is appropriate and fitting that we pay tribute to the memory of the
countless victims of this tragedy.
A strong, resilient people, the Armenians survived these cruelties as
they have survived persecution for centuries. Their durability comes
from their love of and intense faith in God, dating back to the fourth
century when Armenia became the first nation to embrace Christianity.
In spite of the crimes committed against them, today, Armenians
flourish as prominent and successful citizens of our great Nation. We
commemorate this date so as not to forget the suffering and pain
endured by the Armenian world community. By remembering the Armenian
genocide, we are speaking out against the persecution of all peoples.
History teaches us that gross inhumanities have not perished from the
Earth. Conditions in Yerevan, today, are like those in the besieged
Leningrad of 1942. A blockade by Azerbaijan on the east, continued
sabotage of fuel lines through Georgia on the northwest and complicity
in these actions by Turkey on the southwest have placed Yerevan in a
position as desperate as that of Sarajevo.
I am extremely concerned over the number of mercenary soldiers
imported from Afghanistan, who have joined forces with the Azeri army.
Russia continues to sell weapons to both sides of the conflict.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees have been displaced by the fighting.
This brutality against Armenians must not be allowed to continue.
We must put an end to this blockade and the suffering it has caused.
The aggression being inflicted by both sides will only lead to more
deaths and continued hatred and instability in the region. If the
international community does not intervene immediately, the ongoing war
and destruction will continue to escalate until it reaches the same
levels as in the former Yugoslavia.
History must not forget that Armenians were systematically uprooted
from their homeland of 3,000 years ago and eliminated through massacres
or exile. As leaders of a free and democratic nation, we have a moral
obligation to acknowledge and deplore the events surrounding the
Armenian genocide, and we must ensure that such atrocities do not
continue. We can only do this by condemning the blockage as a violation
of international law and demanding the opening of the Nagorno-Karabagh
corridor to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Armenia.
Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I am glad to join so many Members on the
house floor to commemorate the 79th anniversary of the genocide of as
many as 1.5 million Armenians and the exile of 500,000 more from the
Ottoman empire. The horrors of the Armenian genocide have been outlined
very ably here by several Members and collectively rank as one of the
most heinous violations of human rights in history.
Although many years have passed since the Armenian genocide,
reminding the world what happened in the Ottoman empire between 1915
and 1923 is essential. Human right violations cannot be allowed to be
obscured by the passage of time any more than they can be hidden by
offending governments behind the cloak of ``internal policy.''
Remembering the Armenian genocide is an integral part in healing and
a step toward ending this type of horror. As Richard Cohen writes in an
op-ed in the Washington Post today, barbarism akin to the Armenian
genocide is happening today in Rwanda, and Bosnia, and South Africa,
and elsewhere. By remembering the suffering of Armenians decades ago we
highlight that human rights are indivisible--a violation of human
rights anywhere is a violation of the human rights of each of us. We
must work to end the ``global tribalism'' that Cohen describes and
stand up to the demogogues who would promote ethnic hatred.
The message we must bring out of the Armenian genocide is that we
must not let the transgressions of bygone days condemn our children and
their children to lives of hatred and revenge. We must break the cycle
of violence by remembering the horror and suffering, as we do today, an
vowing to never again allow it to happen.
We must think of our relations with our fellow human beings in
broader terms. Rather than looking for differences, which can be
exploited, we must recognize that we are all human beings with shared
interest, inherent worth, and inalienable human rights, Every person
must work to ensure the rights of every other person. Only then will
the type of thinking that led to the genocide against the Armenian
people shrivel and die.
I thank Mr. Lehman for calling this special order tonight.
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join with my colleagues in
remembering the victims of the Armenian genocide.
Perhaps the only lesson we can draw from this tragic event is that we
must be ever vigilant against man's capacity to inflict harm upon his
fellow man. The first step toward preventing future instances of
genocide is openly and honestly understanding the past, and rejecting
those who would, in the name of political expediency, deny the Armenian
genocide or any such crime against humanity. By allowing revisionism to
cloud our remembrance we would only encourage future leaders who would
seek to solve their nation's problems through genocide means.
With these thoughts in mind, I would like to submit for the record
the description of the Armenian genocide by the U.S. Ambassador to the
Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, in his book, Ambassador Morgenthau's
story. (Garden City, NY Doubleday, 1918, page 327-28).
In the early part of 1915, the Armenian soldiers in the
Turkish army were reduced to a new status. Up to that time
most of them had been combatants, but now they were all
stripped of their arms and transformed into workmen. Instead
of serving their country as artillerymen and cavalrymen,
these former soldiers now discovered that they had been
transformed into road labourers and pack animals. Army
supplies of all kinds were loaded on their backs, and,
stumbling under the burdens and driven by the whips and
bayonets of the Turks, they were forced to drag their weary
bodies into the mountains of the Caucasus. Sometimes they
would have to plough their way, burdened in this fashion,
almost waist high through snow. They had to spend practically
all their time in the open, sleeping on the bare ground--
whenever the ceaseless prodding of their taskmasters gave
them an occasional opportunity to sleep. They were given only
scraps of food; if they fell sick they were left where they
had dropped, their Turkish oppressors perhaps stopping long
enough to rob them of all their possessions--even of their
clothes. If any stragglers succeeded in reaching their
destinations, they were not infrequently massacred. In many
instances Armenian soldiers were disposed of in even more
summary fashion, for it now became almost the general
practice to shoot them in cold blood. In almost all cases the
procedure was the same. Here and there squads of 50 or 100
men would be taken, bound together in groups of four, and
then marched out to a secluded spot a short distance from the
village. Suddenly the sound of rifle shots would fill the
air, and the Turkish soldiers who had acted as the escort
would sullenly return to camp. Those sent to bury the bodies
would find them almost invariably stark naked, for, as usual,
the Turks had stolen all their clothes. In cases that came to
my attention, the murderers had added a refinement to their
victims' sufferings by compelling them to dig their graves
before being shot. . . .
Dreadful as were these massacres of unarmed soldiers, they
were mercy and justice themselves when compared with the
treatment which was now visited upon those Armenians who were
suspected of concealing arms. Naturally the Christians became
alarmed when placards were posted in the villages and cities
ordering everybody to bring their arms to headquarters.
Although this order applied to all citizens, the Armenians
well understood what the result would be, should they be left
defenseless while their Moslem neighbours were permitted to
retain their arms. In many cases, however, the persecuted
people patiently obeyed the command; and then the Turkish
officials almost joyfully seized their rifles as evidence
that a `revolution' was being planned and threw their victims
into prison on a charge of treason. Thousands failed to
deliver arms simply because they had none to deliver, while
an even greater number tenaciously refused to give them up,
not because they were plotting an uprising but because they
proposed to defend their own lives and their women's honour
against the outrages which they knew were being planned. The
punishment inflicted upon these recalcitrants forms one of
the most hideous chapters of modern history. Most of us
believe that torture has long ceased of be an administrative
and judicial measure, yet I do not believe that the darkest
ages ever presented scenes more horrible than those which now
took place all over Turkey. Nothing was sacred to the Turkish
gendarmes; under the plea of searching for hidden arms, they
ransacked churches, treated the altars and sacred utensils
with the unmost indignity, and even held mock ceremonies in
initiation of the Christian sacraments. They would beat the
priests into insensibility, under the pretence that they were
the centres of sedition.\14\
Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 79th
anniversary of the Armenian genocide. A systematic and deliberate
campaign of genocide between 1915 and 1923 resulted in the deaths of
over 1.5 million Armenians and the exile of a nation from its historic
homeland.
On April 24, 1915, the day the 1915 genocide began, over 200
intellectual, religious and political leaders of the Armenian community
in Istanbul were arrested, exiled from that city, and executed. This
date now symbolizes not only the beginning of the Armenian genocide,
but also a tragic history of persecution for the Armenian people.
Numerous Armenian citizens, who now reside in my Congressional
District in Southwestern Illinois, have contacted me about the anguish
they feel about the events of the past and of the present situation in
Armenia. Because they have not forgotten the fate of their Armenian
ancestors, I firmly believe the Congress should also remember their
past.
The Congress holds a remembrance ceremony for the victims of the
Armenian genocide every April. It is imperative that we, as a Nation,
voice our commitment to Armenia by remembering the tragic crimes
against the Armenian people. To deny the experiences of millions of
people cannot be tolerated. The Congress must stand firm in its resolve
to oppose violence and repression against humanity. These crimes must
be recognized and remembered to prevent their future occurrence.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in remembering the
tragedy of the Armenian genocide and in renewing our commitment to
human rights.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today and join my distinguished
colleagues in commemorating the tragedy of the Armenian genocide.
Today, we pay tribute to those who lost their lives during and after
the first world war due to such terrible massacres.
The basic facts of the tragic events that occurred in the Ottoman
Turkish Empire between 1915 and 1923 are by now well known. It was not
so at the time. In those years, the world did not have the wonder of
modern telecommunications which today brings events from around the
world to our attention instantaneously.
The horrors of our time--in Rwanda, in Gorazde, in Haiti--remind us
of the seemingly endless human capacity for brutality. We struggle to
bring an end to the violence, to stop the aggressors and to give
comfort and relief to the victims. In the face of such atrocities, and
the wrenching human suffering they produce, we search in vain for signs
that the progress of technology over the decades is accompanied by a
civilizing of human nature itself.
One way we can assert our humanity is to speak the truth. The
perpetrators of ethnic cleansing, tribal slaughter, and genocide, and
those who defend them, will attempt to distort the truth. They will try
to cover their bloody tracks by claiming that their victims share
complicity. In attempting to justify their massacre of the people of
Gorazde, the Bosnian Serbs have followed this gory tradition.
As we take the House floor today to reflect on the Armenian genocide,
we are confronted by the effort by some to deny the truth of those
events. If, as has been said, truth is the first casualty of war, it is
even more the case with respect to genocide. We all must remain
eternally vigilant to keep even history's most terrifying truths alive.
We must match the tenacity of those who would rewrite history. It takes
the power of a ``Schindler's List'' to beat back the steady, low drone
of those who would attempt to erase the truth of history's most
terrible chapter.
The systematic campaign of ``death marches'' by the Ottoman Turkish
Empire resulted in the deaths of over 1.5 million Armenians and the
exile of a nation from its homeland of 3,000 years. Silence in the face
of genocide only encourages those who would commit such atrocities.
``Nothing,'' it has been said, ``is more distressing than to see
history repeat itself.''
Today, unfortunately, hostilities still continue in the region and
peace efforts, thus far, have been futile. The Armenian people are
still at war. Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of
thousands of people have been made refugees.
Mr. Speaker, the best way we can honor those who have died in the
Armenian genocide is to help create conditions so that the people of
that region can finally live in peace. Today, as we remember the
atrocities of the Armenian genocide, I hope we can draw attention to
the present atrocities so that stability can finally occur in that
region.
Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate
the 79th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
Beginning on April 24, 1915, hundreds of Armenian religious,
political and intellectual leaders were rounded up, exiled and
murdered. The genocide of the Armenian people by the Turkish Ottoman
Empire continued for nine years and claimed over 1,500,000 lives.
Another 500,000 Armenians were forced to flee their homeland, some of
whom formed the origins of the Armenian community in our country.
Therefore, it is imperative that we, as the elected representatives of
the people of the United States, recognize and commemorate the Genocide
of the Armenian people.
In addition, it is incumbent upon us to speak out about messages of
hate and bigotry on the rise in this country. As we have learned in
this country and witnessed abroad at least twice this century, hate
must not be allowed to grow unchecked. We must continue to denounce
messages of hate and bigotry and promote tolerance within our
communities.
Mr. Speaker, the commemoration of this tragic episode in world
history is vitally important. I urge my colleagues to join me in
commemorating the Genocide of the Armenian people.
Mr. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to join my colleagues today in
honoring the memory of the 1.5 million Armenians who perished during
the genocide of 1915. This horrible period still haunts us today, and
the memory of the men, women and children who perished remains.
This was the first true genocide of the 20th century. Despite the
atrocities which occurred at the hands of the Turkish Empire, despite
the documentation, the eyewitnesses reports, and countless publications
which describe these atrocities, some people continue to deny that this
crime against humanity actually took place.
Kemal Ataturk, the father of the modern Republic of Turkey, stated
that the perpetrators of these crimes:
``* * * should have been made to account for the lives of
millions of our Christian subjects who were ruthlessly driven
enmass, from their homes and massacred * * *''
And, yet, the denial continues today, dishonoring those who perished
and prolonging the suffering of survivors. If the international
community is serious about preventing crimes against humanity, it is
essential for us to recognize the atrocities that occurred against the
Armenian people at the beginning of this century, by honoring the
memory of 1.5 million men, women and children who perished.
Mr. BLILEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mourn and acknowledge a
despicable act perpetrated against the Armenian people between 1915 and
1923. Once proud members of the former Ottoman Empire, the Armenian
people suffered genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, effectively
erasing their existence from the region.
The start of this one-sided bloodshed occurred 79 years ago, as the
leaders of the Armenian community were rounded-up and executed. During
the reign of terror, over 1.5 million Armenians were brutally killed
and over 500,000 were forced to flee to the Syrian desert, substituting
memories for their worldly possessions. Today, only about 80,000
Armenians reside in their former homeland.
It is discouragingly ironic to find that keen rememberers of the
Armenian genocide were executers of future genocides, namely Nazi Adolf
Hitler and Pol Pot of Cambodia. According to historians, Hitler based
his final solution for the Jews on successful ignorance of the Armenian
genocide by the international community.
As the United States and the United Nations contemplate action in the
war-torn region of Bosnia and other areas of the world, let us not
forget the previous human tragedy and the legacy caused by the Armenian
genocide. The situations confronting American foreign policy are not
new or unique, but they are just as horrifying. It is to our detriment
that we do not remember and recognize those lost to the hands of
tyranny and barbarism as we develop policies for the future.
The anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian genocide will be
remembered on Sunday April 24, 1994. We all should take a moment of
silent prayer in memory of the Armenian people that were unconsciously
executed because of their ethnicity.
Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, the Holocaust Museum here in Washington
serves as a reminder of one of the greatest tragedies in human history.
While it specifically calls to our attention the horrors of the Jewish
holocaust during the 1930s and 40s, it serves as well to remind us of
other crimes of genocide and persecution. One of those unspeakable
crimes was the persecution and elimination of millions of Armenians by
the rulers of the Ottoman Empire.
This tragedy began 89 years ago with the exile and murder of more
than one million Armenian religious, political and intellectual
leaders. Over a period of 8 years, the Armenian people were subjected
to extreme cruelties. The young men were forced into the Ottoman army,
disarmed and placed in forced labor battalions where they were either
starved or executed. The women, children and elderly were marched for
weeks into the Syrian desert and subjected to rape, torture and
mutilation along the way. As a result of this genocide, the Armenian
population of the Ottoman Empire was effectively eliminated.
The Holocaust Museum serves to remind us of just how cruel man can be
to his fellow man. From its grisly photographs and artifacts, we should
learn the importance of tolerance among all racial and ethnic groups.
Whether intolerance is aimed at Armenians, Jews or any other group of
people, it is wrong. Let us learn from the tragedies of our past so we
will not be condemned to repeat them.
Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, This week marks the 79th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide. Between the years 1915 and 1923, over 1.5 million
Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Turkish Empire, marking the first
genocide of the 20th century.
We call attention to this tragic event today to recognize not only
its historical significance, but also its implication for current U.S.
foreign policy toward Turkey. To this day, the Republic of Turkey has
pursued a sophisticated campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide despite
overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The evidence speaks for itself.
By the beginning of World War I, there were more than 2.5 million
Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire; today, fewer than 80,000
declared Armenians remain in Turkey.
Turkey's refusal to admit its pattern of persecution against the
Armenian people in the first half of this century has contributed to
the current instability in the region. The valuable role Turkey could
play in helping to resolve the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict has been
thwarted by their efforts to rewrite the history of the Armenian
Genocide.
I sincerely hope that this Congress and the Administration will be
mindful of Turkey's refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide when the
foreign aid bill is debated this year. The least our government should
expect from an ally that receives hundreds of millions of dollars each
year in U.S. aid is a formal recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In
addition to serving the interest of truth, it will help to secure
regional stability by the increasing the level of trust in an extremely
sensitive and volatile area of the world.
Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, today I join my colleagues in solemn
remembrance on the 79th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide by the
Ottoman Turks. I regret that this observance is made necessary by the
inhuman actions taken 79 years ago; yet it is important that we
remember the Armenian people and the tragedy they suffered.
Over a million Armenians were exiled and eventually murdered by the
Ottoman Turks beginning on April 24, 1915. As a result of this
genocide, the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire was effectively
eliminated through a carefully executed government plan.
We take for granted the United States' founding principle of the
inalienable right to life. The Armenians had long been denied that
basic right, first between 1894 and 1896, when close to 200,000
Armenians were massacred under the harsh rule of the Ottoman Sultan
Abdul Hamid II. When he stepped down fifteen years later, the Armenians
were hopeful of an end to their terror when the ruling party promised
democratic reforms and constitutional rights. But the Armenians had
long suffered the disrespect of the Ottomans, and that unfortunately
did not change.
Such disrespect can be so intensified that it allows one group of
people to justify the dehumanization and utter annihilation of another
group of people. That tragic disrespect is precisely what befell the
Armenians in 1915, and that is the tragedy that we cannot forget.
Hitler counted on the world's disregard of their fate when he said,
``Who today speaks of the extermination of the Armenians.''
Mr. Chairman, today we are speaking of it. Let us remember the
Armenian people and all victims of deliberate extermination as we
commemorate the 79th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
Mr. KING. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate one of the most
tragic events of the 20th century, and indeed, of all recorded history,
the Armenian Genocide.
In 1915, the Ottoman Turkish Empire undertook a deliberately planned
effort to exterminate the Armenian people. The Ottoman Turks were
responsible for the deaths of more than one million Armenian men, women
and children. This vicious campaign of genocide was only halted by
Turkey's defeat by the Allies in 1918.
Unfortunately, the Armenian Genocide has been largely forgotten by
the people of the world. It has been reported that on the eve of the
beginning of his ``Final Solution,'' Adolf Hitler cynically remarked
that the world would stand by and allow him to murder the European
Jews, because, he asked ``Who today remembers the Armenians?''.
Just as we remember the Holocaust, we must honor the memory of the
victims of the Armenian Genocide, so that future generations never
forget these monumental crimes against humanity nor fail to realize the
human potential for profound evil.
In the first 75 years of this century, the world witnessed the
Armenian Genocide, Stalin's mass murder of the Kulaks and millions of
political opponents, the Holocaust, the millions of dead in Mao's
Cultural Revolution, and Pol Pot's liquidation of more than a million
Cambodians. Today we are witnessing the ``ethnic cleansing'' of the
Bosnian Muslims.
We must not disgrace the memories of the victims of the Holocaust,
the Armenian Genocide and this century's other countless victims of
institutional mass murder by standing by and allowing the Bosnian
Muslims to be exterminated. We must act to make the words, ``never
again,'' a reality. We must stop history from once again repeating
itself. I can think of no better way to commemorate the victims of the
Armenian Genocide.
Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join with my colleagues in
commemorating the 79th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. This
horrible event marked a period in which the Turkish Ottoman Empire
conducted a deliberate campaign to systematically eliminate a people
and erase a culture dating back over 3,000 years. Beginning on April
24, 1915, with the slaughter of hundreds of Armenian religious,
political and intellectual leaders, and lasting until 1923, the
Genocide claimed the lives of roughly 1.5 million Armenians. Many
others endured immense suffering as they were uprooted and forced to
flee their homeland.
Approximately 500,000 refugees escaped the horrors of starvation,
disease, and massacre. They fled to the north across the Russian
border, to neighboring Arab countries, and to Europe and the United
States. The vast majority of the Armenians living in the U.S. today are
the children and grandchildren of these brave survivors.
Through the years, the dynamic community of Armenian Americans living
in the U.S. has shown great strength, making invaluable contributions
to the richness and diversity of our society. Their exceptional talents
and hard work have enriched our culture and enhanced the quality of
life we enjoy.
Overcoming adversity and loss is clearly a hallmark of the people of
Armenia. Throughout this century, that country has withstood natural
disasters such as the devastating earthquake of 1988. It also struggled
under the political burdens of Soviet rule until declaring its
independence in 1991. Since then, impressive economic and democratic
reforms have been enacted. However, the citizens of Armenia are now
being forced to cope with extremely difficult living conditions brought
on by the disintegration of the former Soviet Union. During the last
four years, Azerbaijan has carried out a crippling economic blockage
and brutal military attacks against the people of Armenia and Nagorno
Karabagh.
It is critically important that we continue to recognize the Armenian
Genocide as one of history's greatest examples of man's inhumanity to
man. The passage of time must not cause us to forget the extreme
sacrifices and suffering of those who were persecuted during this
tragedy. Remembering those who perished, and paying tribute to the
survivors who have persevered in the face of enormous challenges,
strengthens our commitment to guaranteeing respect for the dignity and
fundamental rights of all people.
Mr. Speaker, as we recognize the Armenian Genocide by honoring those
who were lost and paying tribute to those who survived, we should
reaffirm our commitment to the people of that country. Our Nation must
continue to work closely with the international community to help craft
an equitable resolution to the present conflict which has brought
hardship and suffering upon many. It is also incumbent upon each of us
to recognize the tremendous achievements of Armenian Americans. Their
combined energies and resources have helped to make this Nation great.
Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I wish to speak today to honor the Armenians
who suffered and died during the genocide of 1915 to 1923.
April 24 is a day that will be forever remembered by all Armenians.
For it was on this day in 1915 that the Ottoman rulers, fearing defeat
by the advancing Russian army, launched an ethnic cleansing campaign in
which the entire Armenian population was deported, resulting in the
deaths of tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children.
Officials of the Ottoman Government rounded up Armenians, placed them
in internment camps and then marched them out of Turkey, some to Syria
and Lebanon, others east to Armenia. This campaign resulted in the
deaths of 1.5 million Armenians. The surviving Armenians fled to
Europe, the Middle East and the United States.
Let us never forget the horrible genocide of Armenians which occurred
in 1915. And, as we act on behalf of those suffering from ``ethnic
cleansing'' campaigns in Bosnia, let us ensure that nothing like the
tragedy of 1915 ever occurs again.
Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember the one and one
half million Armenians killed in the Armenian Genocide. April 24 marks
the anniversary of the start of the 1915 genocide which subjected an
entire nation to massacres and many other deplorable acts.
Over the course of 30 years, one third of the Armenian people were
killed as a result of a carefully orchestrated plan devised by the
Ottoman Government. Those Armenians fortunate enough to live through
the Genocide still lost their homeland. Before World War I, there were
more than 2.5 million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire, but today
fewer than 80,000 Armenians remain in Turkey. This systematic effort to
eliminate the Armenian people is one of the greatest tragedies in
recent history.
In remembering those who lost their lives in the Armenian Genocide,
we must learn from the lessons this terrible chapter of history can
teach us. The lives that were lost and those torn apart must never go
unnoticed. Instead, they must be an alarm to awaken the world to the
potential effects of inhumanity. The Armenian Genocide was the first
genocide of the 20th century and regrettably not the last. Now, we have
the lessons of history to help us ensure there is never a first
genocide in the next century.
Today is an opportunity for us all to reflect on the terrible events
the Armenian people have endured. By remembering this horrible event
today, we can help prevent the dreadful occurrence of another genocide.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, Hitler rationalized his final solution
for the Jews when he asked, ``Who today speaks of the extermination of
the Armenians.'' Well, today Mr. Speaker I want to take that
opportunity. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the anniversary of
the Armenian genocide. During the second half of the 19th century, the
Armenian population of the Ottoman Turkish Empire became the target of
increasing persecution by the Ottoman government. These persecutions
culminated in a three decade period during which millions of Armenians
were systematically uprooted from their homeland of 3,000 years and
eliminated through massacres and exile.
Between the years of 1894 and 1896, 300,000 Armenians were massacred
during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Adbul-Hamid II. In 1909, 30,000
Armenians were massacred in the area of Adana. And beginning on April
24, 1915, the Armenian people were subjected to the worst display of
death and dehumanization in its history. An estimated 1.5 million, a
third of its population, were persecuted under this organized genocide.
Today we join all Armenians and people all around the world in
observing the 79th anniversary of this unforgettable event in history.
I commemorate not only the victims, but the resiliency and
determination of the survivors, who to this day have kept the faith and
traditions of the Armenian people alive.
Mr. ANDREWS of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my
colleagues in remembrance of the attempt by the Ottoman Empire to
systematically eliminate the Armenian people. April 24 will be the 79th
anniversary of the beginning of this campaign of genocide, which
resulted in the death of over 1.5 million Armenians.
In remembering this cruel and calculated effort to wipe out the
Armenian people and culture, we reinvigorate our commitment to
eliminate the practice of genocide forever. It is not enough to simply
memoralize the victims of this atrocity. We must ensure that such
actions never take place again.
As with other such atrocities, there are people who would have us
believe that this event never took place. Efforts such as these must
never be accepted. The systematic and deliberate murder of a nation,
regardless of the political implications, must be recognized by all
people who want to rid the world of genocide. We need to use the
commemoration of the Armenian genocide to strengthen our conviction
that such atrocities will never be repeated.
Ms. SHEPHERD. Mr. Speaker, I speak today, with both sorrow and anger,
in commemoration of the massacre of over one and a half million
Armenians between 1915 and 1923. The systematic persecution of the
Armenian people by the Ottoman Empire clearly ranks among the worst
examples of man's inhumanity to man. The culmination of a long campaign
of official oppression and slaughter, the Armenian genocide virtually
eliminated the Armenian people in their homeland. The slaughter took a
now all-too-familiar pattern: first, the leaders and professionals were
arrested and executed, then the able bodied men. The women, children,
and the elderly were then at the mercy of their attackers, and were
raped, tortured, and mutilated as they were driven from their homes.
They then were forced into death marches, where most died from
starvation, disease, or massacre. Three-quarters of the entire Armenian
population perished, and the rest were driven into exile.
The cruelty of these deeds, and their massive scale, compel us to
remember. To remember, and to condemn, is the first step in the long
struggle against genocide. Whether it is the ``race extermination'' of
the Armenians, the ``final solution'' of the Jews, or the ``ethnic
cleansing'' of the Bosnian Moslems, we must take a stand against the
inhuman and criminal slaughter of innocents. We must not allow the
lessons of the Armenian genocide to be forgotten.
Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the more than 1.5
million victims of Armenian genocide who perished 79 years ago. From
1915 through 1923, the Ottoman Empire systematically repressed and
slaughtered its indigenous Armenian population. For too long, people
have ignored or forgotten this unimaginable atrocity. The time has come
for the United States, and people everywhere, to remember and honor the
victims of this brutal crime against humanity.
For 3,000 years, Armenians and Armenian culture had thrived in the
area covered by the Ottoman Empire. However, beginning in 1915, Turkish
authorities systematically wiped out nearly two-thirds of its Armenian
population. Turkish authorities first executed intellectuals and
doctors, then adult males, leaving the elderly, the very young, and
women defenseless, as the Turkish government force them on death
marches through the Southern Anatolian deserts. In 8 short years,
Turkey managed to slaughter a vibrant, thriving, indigenous population.
I am reminded of Hitler's question. ``Who today speaks of the
extermination of the Armenians?'' We all must. It is imperative that we
all remember the incredible inhumanity of which people are capable, for
to remember is to be vigilant. And vigilance is the only way we can
ever keep such atrocities from reoccurring.
Mr. MANTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Lehman for reserving this
special order to commemorate the tragic events that occurred in the
Ottoman Empire from 1915-1923. In 5 days, we will mark the 79th
anniversary of the Armenian genocide. I am honored to join my
colleagues today to remember and pay tribute to the 1.5 million victims
of the genocide and their survivors.
Mr. Speaker, on April, 24, 1915, the Ottoman Turkish Government
launched a systematic and deliberate campaign of genocide. This violent
campaign resulted in the deaths of over one-third of the Armenian
population living in the Ottoman Empire and the exile of approximately
500,000 Armenians from the Empire. While most of us here today are
familiar with the disturbing events of 1915-1923, there are those who
deny the genocide ever took place. Today, we must remember.
Mr. Speaker, we must remember the Armenian leadership in Istanbul and
other Armenian centers who were executed. We must remember the Armenian
males in the Ottoman Turkish Army who were segregated, disarmed, and
worked to death or massacred. We must remember the women, children and
elderly who were forced to march for weeks through the Syrian desert
and subjected to rape, torture, and mutilation along the way. We must
remember the more than 200 religious, political, and intellectual
Armenian leaders who were systematically exiled and murdered. Finally,
we must remember the mass deportations and deaths of thousands of
Armenians.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot let the passage of time face the truth of
these horrific events. Today, I join Armenian-Americans and Armenians
around the world as they remember and honor their loved ones who were
persecuted more than 70 years ago.
Unfortunately, the persecution of Armenians did not end in 1923, but
continues today. In that regard, I am proud to be a cosponsor of H.
Res. 86 introduced by Congressman David Bonior. This resolution
criticizes the Republic of Azerbaijan for their failure to work for a
peaceful settlement to the dispute over Nagorno Karabagh by continuing
the devastating blockade and economic boycott of the Republics of
Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh. Furthermore, H. Res. 86 urges the United
States to continue to withhold all our assistance to Azerbaijan until
they cease their policy of aggression, and afford Armenians basic human
rights protections. I urge my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring
this important resolution to help all Armenians fight for the
democratic principles and human rights they deserve.
In the name of the thousands of Armenians persecuted, executed, and
exiled and their survivors, we cannot forget the horrors of the
Armenian genocide. We must continue to hope and work for a world free
of crimes of prejudice and ignorance. Today, we remind the world a
senseless tragedy was allowed to happen, but must never be repeated.
Mr. McNULTY. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues today in commemorating
the 79th anniversary of the Armenian genocide--the first genocide of
the 20th century.
The Armenian genocide, and the international community's indifference
to this crime against humanity, set the stage for a century of
unparalleled suffering. The Holocaust, the genocide in Cambodia, the
current tragedy in Bosnia, and countless other genocidal campaigns, are
rooted to some extent in the world's failure to hold accountable the
perpetrators of the Armenian genocide.
Why did the Ottoman government undertake the systematic and
deliberate elimination of the Armenian people? To a significant degree,
the answer is provided by our ambassador to Turkey at the time of the
Armenian genocide, His Excellency Henry Morgenthau, in his book
entitled, ``Ambassador Morgenthau's Story,'' published in 1918.
In the following excerpt, he records his meeting with Enver Pasha,
Turkey's Minister of War from 1908 to 1918, and a member of the
Committee on Union and Progress:
``In another talk with Enver I began by suggesting that the Central
Government was probably not to blame for the massacres. I thought this
would not be displeasing to him.
```Of course, I know that the Cabinet would never order such terrible
things as have taken place,' I said. `You * * * and the rest of the
Committee can hardly be held responsible. Undoubtedly your subordinates
have gone much further than you have ever intended. I realize that it
is not always easy to control your underlings.'
``Enver straightened up at once. I saw that my remarks, far from
smoothing the way to a quiet and friendly discussion, had greatly
offended him. I had intimated that things could happen in Turkey for
which he and his associates were not responsible.
```You are greatly mistaken,' he said. `We have this country
absolutely under our control. I have no desire to shift the blame on to
our underlings and I am entirely willing to accept the responsibility
myself for everything that has taken place. The Cabinet itself has
ordered the deportations. I am convinced that we are completely
justified in doing this owning to the hostile attitude of the Armenians
toward the Ottoman government, but we are the real rulers of Turkey,
and no underling would dare proceed in a matter of this kind without
our orders.'''
Let us always remember the victims of Armenian and Cambodian
genocides, the victims of the Holocaust, the victims of Bosnia, and
whose lives were snuffed out in other genocides. And let us pledge that
we shall do all in our power to eliminate crimes against humanity
wherever they may be perpetrated.
Mr. FAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 79th
anniversary of the first genocide of the twentieth century, the
Armenian genocide of 1915.
As a long-term friend of the Armenian-American community, I am proud
to once again have the opportunity to join my distinguished colleague
from California, Mr. Lehman, and the other Members of the House of
Representatives in pausing to reflect on this atrocity.
On April 24, 1915--the date that symbolizes the beginning of the
Armenian genocide--Armenian representation in Turkey was eliminated
when over 200 religious, political and intellectual leaders of the
Armenian community were arrested, exiled and murdered. In a single
night, the voice of the Armenian nation in Turkey was silenced. Henry
Morgenthau, Sr., the United States ambassador to Turkey at that time,
called the Armenian genocide ``the most thoroughly organized and
effective massacre this country has ever seen.''
From that infamous date until 1923, 1.5 million Armenians died in the
Ottoman Empire's attempts to eliminate the Armenian people. As a result
of this increased persecution, Armenian citizens were either massacred
outright, or they were deported and subjected to various atrocities,
including rape, torture and mutilation. Even the half million Armenians
who were fortunate enough to have escaped were brutally evicted from
the country that they had called home for more than 3,000 years. They
were still victims of the Ottoman Empire's deliberate attempt to
systematically exterminate the Armenian people.
I once more wish to extend my gratitude to Mr. Lehman for calling
this special order. As we honor the victims and survivors of the
Armenian genocide and pay our respects to their families, we must
remember this horrible example of man's inhumanity to man so that we
can renew both our responsibility and our pledge to prevent the
repetition of similar atrocities against any other people anywhere in
the world.
Mr. VISCLOSKY. Mr. Speaker, today, we pause to reflect upon and
memorialize the 79th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Between the
years of 1915 and 1923, the Ottoman empire embarked upon a mission to
erase from the earth the Armenian race, resulting in the deaths of 1.5
million men, women and children, and the exile of a nation from its
historic homeland. The human tragedy of this endeavor is chilling. By
the end of 1923, virtually the entire Armenian population of Anatolia
and western Armenia had been either killed or deported. This
unspeakable catastrophe, which befell the Armenian people in the dawn
of this century, has left a lasting mark on those who survived--they
will never forget, nor should we.
It is important to remember this horrible fact of history to comfort
the survivors, as well as remain vigilant to prevent future calamities.
Only a fraction of the Armenian population escaped this calculated
attempt to destroy them and their culture. Approximately 500,000
Armenian refugees fled north across the Russian border, south into Arab
countries, or to Europe and the United States. Currently, it is
estimated that fewer than 80,000 declared Armenians remain in present-
day Turkey.
The Armenian genocide is a well-documented fact. The U.S. National
Archives contain numerous reports detailing the process by which the
Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire was systematically decimated.
Tragically, less than 20 years after the Armenian genocide, Adolph
Hitler embarked upon a similar extermination of European Jews. However,
there is an unsettling tendency among both individuals and governments
to forget or blot out past atrocities.
It is highly appropriate for the United States to directly convey its
rich tradition of respect for fundamental human rights by commemorating
the Armenian Genocide. We must also encourage world-wide recognition of
this devastating event in history. An acknowledgement of the Armenian
genocide by Turkey would, in addition to serving the interest of truth,
help to secure regional stability by increasing the level of trust in
an extremely sensitive area of the world.
Current events have brought new hardships upon the Armenians. Six
years of conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan and general unrest in the
region has all but cut off Armenia from its fuel supply. Both
Azerbaijan and Turkey have imposed embargoes upon Armenia; the only
road to Iran is often closed; and, the gas and railway lines, which
pass through Georgia, are frequently blown up. As a result, one in four
Armenians have emigrated in the past year. Those who remain are cold
and miserable--entire forests have been chopped down for firewood.
The heart of suffering for today's Armenians is in Nagorno-Karabakh,
an Armenian-populated enclave in Azerbaijan, which is fighting for its
independence. The memory of the Armenian genocide has heightened the
emotion of this struggle. In fighting for Karabakh, Armenians say they
are fighting to prevent another deportation, another genocide--this
time, at the hands of the Azerbaijanis.
In closing, I would like to commend my colleague from California, Mr.
Lehman, for organizing this special order to commemorate the 79th
anniversary of the Armenian genocide. As we honor those who died
wrongfully before us, we must look forward to say, ``Never again!'' It
is my sincere hope that this remembrance will not only console the
survivors and their families, but may also serve to avert future
atrocities.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, our remembrance today of the
79th anniversary of the Armenian genocide allows us not only to honor
the 1.5 million Armenians who lost their lives in the Ottoman Empire's
attempt to erase an entire people and the many who were forced into
exile, it also allows us to honor the millions who now bravely stand
against another attempt at their destruction.
This moment in the history of the Armenian people is particularly
important. Between 1915 and 1923, the Armenian people were subjected to
policies and programs which resulted in the death and displacement of
millions. There was no attempt to cover up what was happening and the
world stood by--mostly silent in the face of the political instability
at the time--as a people were being destroyed.
Today, the Armenian people are once again at a significant, defining
point in their history. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia
is independent, working toward democratic reform and finding a place in
the international community. Where other nations of the former Soviet
Union find this task difficult enough, the Armenians are still in the
process of rebuilding following the 1988 earthquake--one of the largest
natural disasters of our century. The rebuilding process can now
continue thanks to the World Bank Earthquake Reconstruction loan for
Armenian which is providing $28 million dollars to Armenian for
assistance to the needy population of the earthquake zone.
In addition to the earthquake, however, it is important to note that
the Armenian people suffer from man-made calamities that should be
addressed. For example, for five years, Armenians have been subjected
to a blockade which has left the nation impoverished and, in the words
of one international famine relief program, in a ``pre-famine'' state.
This past winter has been particularly harsh.
Representatives of Christian Solidarity International (CSI) visited
Armenia last winter and they found that the blockades on Armenia are
creating acute shortages and great hardship. The prices of food and
fuel are exorbitant and ration proportions are minimal. According to
Bishop Papken Varjabedian of the Armenian Church of America, many
people ``live mainly on bread.''
CSI also reports that the blockades have reduced energy supplies and
many areas of Armenia receive only one hour of electricity each day,
leaving people in the cold and dark. Without electricity, factories,
schools, universities and public transportation are shut down or
operate at minimal levels.
Despite these hardships and the ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan over
the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian people show little sign
that they are being defeated. They have lived through hardship and the
attempts to destroy their culture before and, thank God, the Armenian
people have survived.
The international community remained virtually silent in 1992 when
40% of Nagorno-Karabakh was over-run and thousands of Armenians were
forced to flee their homes. The international community remained
virtually silent in 1991 when Armenian towns and villages in Nagorno-
Karabakh were occupied by the Azeris. And there has been little outcry
over the blockade of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh which has brought
about the deplorable conditions of those areas.
Today, as we remember and commemorate the millions who suffered and
died during the Armenian genocide earlier this century, we are reminded
that as the century comes to a close the Armenian people are still
suffering. We must not remain silent, and we must act before it is too
late. If today we only remember those who have died and are not moved
to help those suffering today, then those 1.5 million have died in
vain. We must not only remember, we must honor them, and those who
survived the genocide. We can honor them by standing in solidarity with
the Armenians of today who seek peace in their region, and by providing
assistance and encouraging them to continue the process which will
bring about democratic reform, stability and security for the Armenian
people.
Mr. Speaker, I close with a translation of a poem by an 11-year-old
Armenian boy, who has been driven from his village of Mardakert when
the Azeris occupied it in June 1992:
I climbed barefoot the mountains,
To pay my last visit with yearning,
The mountains looked at me and became dark,
``What are you doing, my black-eyed child,'' he asked.
I kneeled down at the Tharthar river bank
To pay my last visit,
Tharthar became wavy suddenly,
``What are you doing, black-eyed child?''
I went to our beautiful bushland,
For the last time to pick up some flowers,
``Shame on you'' the bushes told me again,
And when I looked at the beautiful sun,
With tears in my eyes,
``How, how can I leave all this?'' I wept.
``How can I leave Artsakh (Karabakh)?
You as a mother love me and embrace me.''
And I lay down on the ground,
Hugged the holy land,
And I shouted loud, so the earth would hear me,
``No, no, in our life we will never leave Artsakh,
We will never search for a haven in other lands,
Let Artsakh be our grave.
Forgive me my dear motherland,
That I for a minute thought to leave and get away.
I won't be an adopted child to another mother,
No matter how good she is,
She is still only a stepmother.
My love, my dear Artsakh,
Be a holy parent to your children,
I won't be tempted by another life,
Any heavenly life is not going to enslave me,
I have been born in these mountains,
I will become soil in Matagis (Mardakert)
I will be soil, I will be rock,
Only if my village is always alive,
I will mix with the soil of my land,
And silently listen to the voice of Tharthar.''
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, we owe our colleague from
California [Mr. Lehman] a profound debt of gratitude for again
organizing this Special Order to make sure that the world does not
forget the terrible Armenian genocide. The current troubles facing the
brave people of Armenia make this all too tragically relevant, and it
is fervent hope that our efforts here to recall the horrors of more
than 70 years ago will help waken the world to the moral imperative of
coming to the aid of the besieged people of Armenia today. I continue
to regret very much the incomprehensibly obstinate attitude of the
Turkish government, in seeking to block recognition of the terrible
events of that period, in which so many innocent Armenians were
slaughtered. And I urge the Turkish government today to take into
account this historic tragedy and to revise its policy today of
continuing to add to the misery that besets innocent people in Armenia.
I admire the courage that the people of Armenia are showing today in
their effort to construct a modern democratic government, after so many
centuries of misrule and oppression which they have suffered from
outside forces. As we recall the martyrs of the genocide of many
decades ago, let us rededicate ourselves to a policy of cooperation,
friendship and support for the valiant effort of the survivors to
create a democratic prosperous Armenia. The Armenian people deserve no
less.
Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues today in rising to
commemorate the Armenians who perished in this century's first
genocide.
Anyone who has studied or discussed the tragic events that befell the
Armenian community 79 years ago--not to mention the preposterous
historical revisionism that still exists to this day--can fully
understand how important this tribute is to the Armenian community and
to the memory of those who lost their lives in the slaughter. I would
like to take this opportunity to commend my distinguished colleague
from California, Mr. Lehman, for arranging this special order.
Each year, this day serves as an expression of our commitment to
historical truth and to the universal principles of human rights. Each
genocide provides a foundation for subsequent horrors. Each historical
misrepresentation of efforts to exterminate a particular ethnic group
increases the likelihood that such efforts will be undertaken again in
another time and place.
With the widespread popularity of Steven Speilberg's moving and
compelling film ``Schindler's list,'' it is clear that the horror of
genocide still resonates throughout the world. Speilberg's film
illustrates the importance of calling attention to intolerance wherever
it takes place, so that the atrocities that were committed by the
Ottoman Empire and Nazi Germany are not repeated.
The line from Armenia to Auschwitz is direct. Undoubtedly, the
Holocaust, which took the lives of six million Jews and millions of
other innocent people, was inspired by the murder of a million and a
half Armenians. Hitler, during an early meeting to map out the
extermination of the Jewish people, was asked whether world opinion
would not prevent such a plan from being carried out. Hitler laughed.
``World opinion! A joke! Who ever cared about the Armenians?''
By holding this special order, we in the House vow that genocide will
not go unacknowledged and unmourned. Only by acknowledging this day,
year after year after year, can we ensure that genocide remains what it
has not always been--an unspeakable evil.
The Armenian people, like the Jewish people, although scattered all
over the globe, have remarkably kept their culture, language, and
religion intact. On this day of remembrance, I salute their tenacity
and spirit.
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