[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 78 (Thursday, May 11, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E998]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


      COMMEMORATING THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______


                               speech of

                       HON. GEORGE P. RADANOVICH

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 2, 1995
  Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, this evening I want to enter into the 
Congressional Record statements written by two young Armenian students 
from my district. These letters were written about the Armenian 
genocide and were selected as award winning essays by the Central 
California chapter of the Armenian National Committee.
  These essays are statements about the suffering the Armenian people 
incurred at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish government, and about 
remembering the victims of the genocide. I am honored to represent 
thousands of Armenians in my district, and equally honored that I can 
count essay award winners Taleen Kojayan and Denyse Kachadoorian among 
them.
                        Many Reasons to Remember

                          (By Taleen Kojayan)

       Everyone knows about the Jews and the Holocaust, about the 
     horrible agony they were put through by the Germans. But who 
     knows about what began on the terrible day, April 24, 1915? 
     To most people this is just an ordinary day from the past. It 
     has no meaning, no significance. But, to every proud 
     Armenian, this date means anguish and grief. It reminds them 
     of the torture their people went through years before. It 
     reminds them of Armenian genocide.
       ``Armenian genocide? Is that the German thing?'' said 
     someone. When the word ``genocide'' is heard, that's what 
     most people think of. Little do they know that there was 
     another genocide, where two-thirds of a nation was wiped off 
     the face of this Earth. One and one-half million Armenian 
     men, women and children massacred.
       Who is responsible for the dreadful butchery of the 
     Armenian people? The answer is clear. There is no doubt that 
     the Turks were the ones who wanted to get rid of the 
     Armenians for good.
       This wasn't the first time that the Turks had harmed the 
     Armenians. There is a history of conflict between them. For 
     example in 1896, the Turks managed to kill 300,000 Armenians. 
     There were also other instances during 1894, which is the 
     time they began their campaign to wipe out the Armenians.
       Of course it isn't logical that 1.5 million Armenians were 
     killed in one single day. The day April 24 was chosen as the 
     beginning for a special reason. On this day, about 200 
     Armenian intellectuals were gathered from the Turkish city of 
     Istanbul. They were taken to central Turkey and were never 
     heard from again. People are weaker without their leaders, 
     and the Turks knew that. This marked the start of the 
     Armenian genocide.
       The first place they wanted ``Armenian-free'' was Istanbul. 
     Many Armenians lived there who had power and money. They 
     owned businesses and controlled the markets. The Turks were 
     tired of being outnumbered by Armenians in their own city. 
     So, they walked out in the streets beating a big drum. They 
     said they needed Armenian men between the ages of 16 and 60 
     to fight in the war for them. That was just an excuse.
       Some of the richer Armenians paid a fee, called the Bedel, 
     to try to get their sons out of the fighting. Even though the 
     fee was paid, it was ignored and the men still had to go. 
     Others might have known that there was more to the story than 
     what they were being told.
       The Turks could have killed the people right there in 
     Istanbul, so why didn't they? Well, the killing couldn't go 
     on in Istanbul because it was close to Europe. The Turks 
     couldn't run the risk of anyone knowing. So, the people were 
     rounded up, taken to central Turkey and then massacred just 
     like the intellectuals.
       So began three years of pain and death for the Armenian 
     people. They were tortured in many ways. Most were sent out 
     into the desert with no food or water. It soon became the 
     grave of many helpless Armenians, including a member of my 
     grandfather's family. Some people were hung, and some were 
     shot. The heads of others who were beheaded were displayed on 
     wooden poles. Some little girls who survived this horrible 
     ordeal were found in other homes.
       All of this suffering, and who knows about it? No one 
     knows, and no one cares about what happened to us. Why are 
     the Armenians so unimportant to this world? Yes, the massacre 
     happened, and no, we shouldn't live in the past. But 
     something like this should not and cannot be forgotten. When 
     the extermination of a whole race of people is attempted, 
     everyone should remember so that they will learn from our 
     mistakes.
       ``After all, who remembers today the extermination of the 
     Armenians?''
                                    --Adolf Hitler, Aug. 22, 1939.
       We shouldn't forget that the Armenian people made it 
     through. They strived to make sure that the Turks did not 
     succeed. And they accomplished just that, or else I wouldn't 
     be here today. The Armenians survived, and will continue to 
     do so.
       ``Go ahead, destroy Armenia. See if you can do it. Send 
     them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes 
     and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray 
     again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see 
     if they will not create a new Armenia.''
                                                --William Saroyan.
       [Taleen Kojayan is a 10th-grade student at Clovis West High 
     School.]
                                 ______

                       Horrid Means of Suffering

       ``We will forget our terrible wound and our grief. We will 
     forget, won't we? If we return to our land.''
                                            --Vahan Tekeyan, 1918.

                        (By Denyse Kachadoorian)

       Genocide can be defined in five acts: killing members of 
     the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members 
     of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions 
     of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in 
     whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent 
     births within the groups, or forcibly transferring children 
     of the group to another group. Unfortunately the Armenians 
     living in 1915 experienced these inconceivable acts, but the 
     survivors struggled and overcame many hardships to rebuild 
     their race.
       The ``Armenian Experience'' started during the late 1800s. 
     Armenians suffered greatly under Turkish rule from 
     discrimination, heavy taxation and armed attacks. From 1894 
     to 1896, the Turks and Kurds, under Sultan Abdul-Hamid II, 
     carried out a campaign to erase Armenians. Hundreds of 
     thousands were killed.
       During World War I, Armenia became a battleground between 
     Turkey and Russia. The Turks feared the Armenians would aid 
     the Russians. As a result, they deported Armenians living in 
     Turkish Armenia into the desert of present-day Syria. 
     Approximately 1 million Armenians died of starvation or lack 
     of water alone. Several others fled to Russian Armenia and in 
     1918 formed an independent republic.
       The Armenians people endured horrendous types of 
     suffering--physical, emotional and tragic moral choices. 
     Hunger plagued the minds of many Armenians in 1915. Some 
     people were reduced to eating grass, similar to cattle 
     grazing.
       Several diseases were contracted during this time; typhus, 
     dysentery, malaria and others. Lice was a familiar problem 
     for these Armenians. Children who entered orphanages were 
     deloused before anything else. Armenians were forced to live 
     as wild animals, exposed to desert heat by day and freezing 
     cold or rain at night.
       Beyond the physical pain, the genocide victims had to deal 
     with emotional suffering. Practically every survivor can name 
     a family member who was murdered during this period.
       Although the massacre occurred almost 80 years ago, it 
     continues to touch the present generations. My paternal 
     grandmother, born in 1911 in Armenia, was a survivor. She 
     vividly described her family situation as homeless and broke. 
     Her father, grandfather and uncle were all captured and 
     presumably murdered. They were forced to abandon their homes 
     and linger around the town for any sign of assistance. Relief 
     arrived soon when an uncle, who lived in the United States, 
     gave them enough money to emigrate to America.
       In 1915, the world became aware of the Armenian genocide by 
     newspapers, books, articles, official investigations and 
     eyewitness accounts. Even following these valid accounts, the 
     U.S. government has denied April 24 as a day of national 
     recognition of the Armenian Genocide, The debates of 1985 and 
     1990 clearly reveal that the world is still withholding a 
     formal declaration of these terrible events. The reason 
     behind the U.S. government's decision for rejecting the day 
     is that Turkey is an important NATO ally and jeopardizing the 
     national security over an issue so insignificant would not be 
     in the best interests of the American public.
       As a result, the American government denied the day of 
     remembrance to Armenians. This decision was hard to swallow 
     for Armenian-Americans. They felt that the government to 
     which they held allegiance to, contributed to and fought for 
     had slighted them as a race. Armenians who began a new life 
     in the United States decided to put aside their troubles and 
     past experiences and work hard in their new homeland. Their 
     determination and work ethic enabled them to blossom into 
     reputable citizens of this country.
       These survivors have rebuilt a proud race with strong 
     family unity, despite the disappointing fact that they are 
     disregarded as victims of an international atrocity by their 
     government. Nevertheless, Armenians are proud of themselves, 
     their fellow brothers and their history.
       [Denyse Kachadoorian is in the 11th grade at Bullard High 
     School.]
     

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