[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 47 (Tuesday, April 26, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                  ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

 Mr. SIMON. This week we reflect on one of the worst crimes 
against humanity committed in our century: The Turkish massacre of one 
and a half million Armenians beginning in 1915.
  Nationalism based on notions of ethnic purity is not something most 
Americans identify with or accept. So it is fitting that many of the 
descendants of survivors of the Armenian genocide found homes in the 
United States. Armenians are a great and talented people. Their 
achievements are disproportionate to their numbers. I have myself seen, 
during a visit to Armenia last year, the fortitude of Armenians in 
coping with post-Soviet economic dislocations, blockades by Turkey and 
Azerbaijan, and the war over Nagorno-Karabakh. History and geography 
have been unkind to the Armenians and I understand and join in the 
sentiments of Armenians, like all victims of ethnic cleansing: ``never 
again.''
  That feeling is, I am sure, in the hearts of the refugees and 
inhabitants trapped in Gorazde, subjected to bombardment from Serbian 
tanks, artillery, mortars, and machineguns in a town which the world 
community has declared to be a safe area. The hysteria and cruelty 
which led to the Armenian massacres is still with us and, wherever it 
occurs, Americans and their government should decisively reject it--not 
wring their hands and try to look the other way.
  Armenians deserve a homeland which is as prosperous as the people are 
industrious and talented, and which is as secure as the Armenian past 
was difficult. In order to accomplish this, the war between Armenia and 
Azerbaijan must end. The war has caused untold suffering in both 
countries.
  This week, as we memorialize one and a half million dead Armenians of 
a past generation, I urge the administration to redouble its efforts, 
and its commitment, to work with the parties directly and with the 
international community to stop the war.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that I may be 
permitted to proceed as if in morning business for 7 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Boxer). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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