[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H3784-H3785]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE 81ST ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Bilirakis] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues in 
marking

[[Page H3785]]

one of the most appalling violations of human rights in all of human 
history--as today marks the 81st anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
  I want to commend my colleagues John Porter of Illinois and Frank 
Pallone of New Jersey, the cochairs of the Congressional Caucus on 
Armenian Issues, for sponsoring this special order.
  The great Armenian massacre which took place between 1915 to 1916, 
shocked public opinion in the United States and Western Europe. As 
Henry Morgenthau, Sr., the former U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman 
Empire, stated:

       I am confident that the whole history of the human race 
     contains no such horrible episode as this. The great 
     massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost 
     insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the Armenian 
     race in 1915.

  Mr. Speaker, in reality, this atrocity lasted over an 8-year period 
from 1915 to 1923. During this time, the Ottoman Empire carried out a 
systematic policy of eliminating its Christian Armenian population.
  As a Greek-American, I have always felt a special kinship for the 
Armenian people. My Greek ancestors like those of Armenian descent, 
have also suffered at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, and as my 
colleagues may know, I hold a special order every year to celebrate 
Greek independence from over 400 years of Turkish oppression.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to have cosponsored House Concurrent 
Resolution 47, which honors the memory of the victims of the Armenian 
genocide.
  I have also joined my colleagues in sending a letter to President 
Clinton expressing disappointment in the fact that he used the word 
``massacres'' rather than the word ``genocide'' to describe this 
systematic annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians. In my opinion this 
distinction is more than a matter of semantics; it is rather the 
difference between a random series of atrocities and a systematic, 
ethnically based policy of extermination.
  In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask that we take a moment to 
reflect upon the hardships endured by the Armenians. In the face of 
adversity the Armenian people have persevered. The survivors of the 
genocide and their descendants have made great contributions to every 
country in which they have settled--including the United States, where 
Armenians have made their mark in business, the professions, and our 
cultural life. Commemorate seems the wrong word to use, Mr. Speaker, 
but it is fitting and right that we mark this dark event today. For it 
is only through focusing on it that we hold out hope for the future 
that no such event will occur again.

                          ____________________