[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3784]
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 Illinois [Mr. Porter] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, we mark the 81st anniversary of the Armenian 
genocide, which did not occur in 1 year, 1915, but lasted over an 8-
year period from 1915 to 1923, during which time the Turks of the 
Ottoman Empire carried out a systematic policy of eliminating its 
Christian Armenian minority. This was the first example of genocide in 
the 20th century, a precursor to the Nazi Holocaust and other cases of 
ethnic cleansing and mass extermination in our own time; and we must 
never forget it, for forgetting history not only dishonors the victims 
and survivors, it encourages other tyrants to believe that they can 
kill with impunity.
  Mr. Speaker, today's occasion is, of course, a time for solemn 
reflection, but it is also an occasion that affords us the opportunity 
to celebrate the human capacity of resilience, the ability even of 
people faced with the most horrendous disasters and challenges to 
rebuild their shattered lives. We can see this determination to 
overcome such an atrocious past in those of Armenian descent.
  On a national level, the struggle for survival and the sense of a 
hope for a better future can be seen by the very existence of the 
young, independent, democratic Republic of Armenia.
  Despite the preponderance of evidence about the historic fact of the 
genocide against the Armenian people, which is strong and undeniable, 
modern Turkey continues to deny that the Armenian genocide took place. 
While various Turkish sources expressed the view that certain 
unfortunate incidents took place, it denies there was ever any 
systematic ethnically based policy targeted against the Armenian 
people. There are those who say we should not offend our Turkish allies 
by using the word genocide, but let us call it what it was. It was 
genocide, a most horrible genocide where over 1.5 million people, 
including women and children, lost their lives and over 500,000 
Armenians were killed, eradicating the Armenian historic homeland from 
Turkey.
  Let us remind ourselves that our country and the rest of the world at 
that time turned away and did nothing to prevent these horrible human 
rights violations against innocent men, women, and children.

                              {time}  1715

  The problems we face from Turkey historically with Armenia have not 
gone away, and they are continuing now in a different form against 
another minority people. Let us remind ourselves as well that today in 
Turkey another genocide is occurring by the Turkish Government against 
yet another Turkish minority, the Kurdish people.
  Today, thousands of Turkish troops have not only driven through the 
southeastern portion of Turkey, executing those in the Kurdish minority 
who oppose them burning and tearing down Kurdish towns, but also 
crossed into the border in Iraq to attack Kurdish people in their 
refugee camps. And let us remind ourselves, Mr. Speaker, that our 
Government has not acted to prevent this additional genocide, but has 
actually supported this action against an innocent people.
  We remind ourselves today of our responsibilities to other human 
beings, and in commemorating the 81st anniversary of the Armenian 
genocide, each one of us should say to ourselves we are our brother's 
keeper, and that we do have a responsibility to others to stand up and 
tell the world that a genocide occurred in 1915 to 1923, and that 
another is occurring today.
  This past year in hammering out the fiscal 1996 foreign funding bill, 
the Foreign Operations Subcommittee sent a strong message to Turkey 
that we will not sit idly by as they commit egregious human rights 
violations not only against their own but also against their smaller 
struggling neighbors, including Armenia. We cut their economic 
assistance in the last year, Mr. Speaker.
  We passed the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act, which ensures that any 
country that henceforth prevents transit of U.S. humanitarian aid 
intended for other people will forfeit all U.S. economic military and 
military assistance, and we provided to the Armenian people support of 
$85 million of aid for food, fuel and medical supplies and an 
additional $30 million for economic and technical assistance.
  We have made great progress in the last years in helping to establish 
a new Armenia, an Armenia that is free and democratic and forging ahead 
to provide through economic freedom a greater economic life to its 
people and a greater stability for its future.
  Mr. Speaker, we have made that commitment previously. We have to 
renew it this year. Even in tough budgetary times, we ought to realize 
that, if we can prevent the kind of foreign assistance, provide the 
kind of foreign assistance to Armenia, a struggling young country that 
does reflect the values that this country stands for and believes in, 
we will do a great deal to extend those values across the world.

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