[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 71 (Tuesday, May 2, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6003-S6004]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN. Mr. President, April 24 was the 80th anniversary 
of the beginning of the Armenian genocide. On that day in 1915, 200 
Armenian leaders were arrested in Constantinople, now Istanbul, and 
taken to the Turkish interior, where they were executed. This act 
marked the beginning of the first genocide of the 20th century.
  From 1915-1923, 1.5 million Armenians were killed and more than 
500,000 were exiled. By 1923, the entire Armenian population, which had 
numbered 2 million, 9 years before, was removed from Turkey.
  During the last years of the Ottoman Empire, the government carried 
out the extermination of the Christian Armenian minority as a matter of 
government policy. The Turks were concerned that the Armenian 
population sympathized with the Allied Powers, and were worried that 
they might side with the Russians in the Turkish-Russian conflict 
during World War I. The Ottoman Government felt they needed to fully 
contain the Armenians.
  All Armenians were equal candidates to be deported or massacred--men, 
women, children, the elderly. The Ottoman Empire justified the genocide 
as one of the necessary military operations during wartime.
  Many Armenians were transferred from their homes and taken to 
desolate areas to be abused and killed in mass slayings. They were 
moved either by forced caravan marches or by overly packed cattle car 
trains, both of which caused massive casualties.
  The survivors of these deportations were sent to camps in the middle 
of the Syrian desert, where they faced heat, starvation, exhaustion, 
thirst, and disease.
  In addition to the loss of life, Armenian churches, libraries, towns, 
and other symbols of their culture were razed. The property and 
belongings of individual Armenians were transferred to the state.
  The massacres ended only after the intervention by the Great Powers, 
including the United States. Henry Morgenthau, the United States 
Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, organized and led protests against 
the targeting of Armenians. Congress chartered an organization, Near 
East Relief, which provided $113 million between 1915-1930 for the 
Armenians' cause. 132,000 Armenian orphans were sent to America and 
placed in foster homes. The United States' efforts stopped the Turks 
from fully completing their plan of extermination. Unfortunately, 
though, we were unable to protect the majority of the Armenians from 
that brutal government.
  Those who were not killed were scattered around the globe. The 
largest community of Armenians today is in the United States, and 
approximately 25,000 Armenians live in Illinois.
  I believe it is important to recognize this history of suffering. The 
United 
[[Page S6004]]  States should make April 24 a national day of 
remembering the Armenian genocide. We must acknowledge the Armenian 
genocide for what it was.
  There is no way we can go back and change history, but we must 
recount the truth of what happened to the Armenian people between 1915-
1923 in the Ottoman Empire. We must demonstrate that the attempted 
extermination of an entire people will not be tolerated. We must not 
forget those who suffered and died.
  I dedicate this statement to those who did not survive the first 
genocide of the 20th century. They must never be forgotten.


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