[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 42 (Monday, April 18, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 18, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
      COMMEMORATING THE 79TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______


                             HON. JACK REED

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 18, 1994

  Mr. REED. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join the Armenian-American 
community in Rhode Island and across the Nation in commemorating the 
79th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
  In this month in 1915, the religious, political and intellectual 
leaders of the Armenian community in the Ottoman Empire were rounded up 
and exiled from their homes. Over the next 8 years, they, and 1.5 
million other Armenian men, women, and children were executed by the 
brutal Ottoman regime. Where before there stood a thriving community of 
2,500,000, now only 80,000 remain. Where there were once mothers and 
fathers, sons and daughters, friends and relatives, now there are only 
memories.
  To the world's horror, the Government of Turkey continues to deny 
that the massacre occurred. In doing so, they deny the very existence 
of the 1\1/2\ million people who were killed.
  As long as this policy of denial continues, we must redouble our 
determination to uphold the memory of the victims of the slaughter and 
make the truth known. Not only for those who perished, but for those 
Armenians who are suffering today, and for those who are yet to be 
born.

                          ____________________