[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 62 (Tuesday, May 7, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

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                               speech of

                          HON. GARY A. FRANKS

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 24, 1996

  Mr. FRANKS of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember the 
Armenian victims of the genocide brought upon them by the Ottoman Turks 
and to commend my colleagues, the gentleman from Illinois, Congressman 
John Edward Porter and the gentleman from New Jersey, Congressman Frank 
Pallone, for organizing special orders today so that Members of the 
House may take the time to remember the one-and-a-half million 
Armenians who were brutally slaughtered by the Ottoman Empire.
  Eighty-one years ago on April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Empire's horrible 
operation against the Armenian community was inaugurated. During the 
eight grisly years that followed that infamous date, the Armenian 
people would be subjected to a sick, ghastly campaign of systematic 
genocide and deportation. During the years of 1915 to 1923, over 1.5 
million Armenians were murdered by the genocidal Ottoman Turks while 
another 500,000 were subjected to forced exile from their homeland.
  Mr. Speaker, the eight years of the Armenian genocide will always be 
considered one of the grimmest in the history of mankind. So that we 
never forget this travesty to the concept of human rights, we must 
always observe the date of April 24. To not do so would be equivalent 
to neglecting the remembrance of those Armenians who had perished, who 
were harmed or who were uprooted during the tyranny of the Ottoman 
Turks. Mr. Speaker, we must not and can not let that happen.
  Therefore, Mr. Speaker, in honor of the Armenian people whose human 
rights were trodden upon, I encourage all of my colleagues to take the 
time and remember the plight and situation of the Armenian people and 
remember that we must always fight hatred and bigotry wherever it can 
be found.

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