[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 50 (Thursday, April 24, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 23, 1997

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, today we solemnly commemorate the massacre of 
Armenians in Turkey during and after the First World War. We mourn the 
dead, and express our condolences to their living descendants. During 
that terrible tragedy, an estimated 1.5 million people were killed in 
what historians call the first of this century's state-ordered 
genocides against a minority group.
  While the tragic events leading to the deaths of millions of 
Armenians occurred at the beginning of this century, their impact on 
the psyche of the Armenian people, and indeed the entire world are 
still apparent. The effects of such atrocities on a people are never 
overcome. Many can still testify to the deportations and massacres of 
family members and friends. Others can read or view pictures of the 
abominations, and all Armenians, young and old, live with the knowledge 
that their people's existence was seriously jeopardized during the last 
years of the Ottoman Empire.
  Mr. Speaker, the world must be reminded over and over of the brutal 
crimes perpetrated against the Armenian people. Unfortunately, 
history's lessons are not easily learned and put into practice. This 
century has been witness to unparalleled human suffering and unmatched 
human cruelty. The Armenian genocide was the first attempt to wipe out 
an entire people. The failure to recognize it gave Hitler confidence. 
Since then, we have seen the killing fields of Pol Pot, the horrors of 
ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, and the tragedy of Rwanda.
  Mr. Speaker, it is imperative that each of us work to ensure that our 
generation and future generations never again have to bear witness to 
such inhuman behavior and feel the pain and suffering of an entire 
people. The crime of genocide must never again be allowed to mar the 
history of humankind, and today we stand with our Armenian brothers and 
sisters, not only to remember and share in their grief for those who 
died, but to celebrate those who are living.

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