[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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