[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 44 (Wednesday, April 20, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
      COMMEMORATING THE 79TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, every April people of Armenian descent in 
America and around the world commemorate the anniversary of the 
genocide perpetrated against the Armenian people between 1915 and 1923. 
This tragedy is one of the most horrible in the history of humankind, 
yet it is often forgotten or overlooked.
  Here are the facts. On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Empire launched a 
systematic campaign to eradicate the Armenian people from Ottoman 
territory. In that year, hundreds of Armenian religious, political and 
intellectual leaders were rounded up, exiled and murdered. During the 
next 8 years, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed through 
executions, during death marches, or in forced labor camps. Many women, 
children, and elderly people were raped, tortured, or enslaved. In 
addition to those killed, an estimated 500,000 Armenians were exiled 
from the Ottoman Empire, many of whom found their way to freedom in the 
United States.
  Recently, the opening of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, 
the success of the movie ``Schindler's List,'' and the campaigns of 
ethnic slaughter in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda have focused 
much attention on the tragedy of genocide. We are reminded that 
systematic execution of people based on their national or religious 
identity is not a phenomenon which can be ignored as a relic of 
history. As the horror in Bosnia and Rwanda demonstrate, ethnically 
based campaigns of murder are still possible, even as the world 
approaches the 21st century.
  It is in this context that we remember the Armenian genocide, the 
first, but unfortunately not the last, genocide of the 20th century. It 
is also appropriate that we commemorate this tragedy at a time when 
there is renewed conflict and suffering as a result of the conflict 
between Armenia and Azerbaijan. I hope that the memory of the Armenian 
genocide, as well as the sight of the suffering of the Armenian and 
Azeri peoples, will spur a peaceful resolution to the dispute.
  Mr. President, despite a long history of persecution and tragedy, the 
Armenian people have demonstrated remarkable moral strength, 
resilience, and pride, as demonstrated by the successes of Armenian-
Americans and the great contributions they have made to our society. 
These qualities are also evident in the effort of the newly-independent 
state of Armenia to build a prosperous and democratic country after 
decades of Soviet oppression, an effort which I personally witnessed 
when I visited Armenia in January 1992.
  The legacy of the Armenian genocide has not succeeded in deterring 
subsequent acts of genocide. However, it is only by continuing to 
remember and discuss the horrors which befell the Armenian and other 
peoples that we can hope to achieve a world where genocide is finally 
relegated to the realm of history books, rather than newspaper 
headlines.

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