[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 51 (Tuesday, May 3, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
     COMMEMORATION OF THE 79TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______


                               speech of

                          HON. ROBERT MENENDEZ

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 19, 1994

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today solemnly to commemorate one 
of the 20th century's most abhorrent tragedies, the genocide 
perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire upon the Armenian people between 1915 
and 1923.
  I rise in solidarity with Armenians throughout the world in 
remembering the 1.5 million men, women, and children who were victims 
of this sordid act of persecution. I rise also in hope--hope that the 
legendary, triumphant spirit of the Armenian people will serve as an 
example for all of us that out of adversity can come great strength--
strength to endure and to overcome that adversity. The Armenian 
community throughout the world and in the United States is indeed 
living testimony to that triumphant spirit.
  It is important, just, and necessary for humankind to engage in a 
commemoration such as this in the hope that we can learn something from 
man's inhumanity toward man. The people and nations of the world share 
a collective responsibility to learn from this sordid event and a duty 
to record it factually for future generations. I congratulate those 
governments who have joined us in solemn remembrance of the Armenian 
genocide and urge those which have yet to begin their commemoration, or 
which deny that this genocide occurred, to pay appropriate homage to 
its victims.
  Therefore, Mr. Speaker, let history record this commemoration in the 
United States Congress, that scores of us who proudly represent the 
people of the United States of America duly pause to pay a humble 
tribute to the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian genocide. May it 
never happen again.

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