[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 52 (Monday, April 28, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S3757]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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              THE 82D ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

 Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I rise today to commemorate the 82d 
anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Each year we remember and honor 
the victims and pay respect to the survivors we are blessed to have in 
our midst.
  Approximately 1.5 million Armenians were killed under the Turkish 
Ottoman Empire during a 28-year period which lasted from 1894 to 1921. 
April 24, 1915, serves as a marking point for the government 
orchestrated carnage that took place. On this date, over 5,000 
Armenians were systematically hunted down and killed in Constantinople, 
including some 600 Armenian political and intellectual leaders.
  History records that the world stood by, although it knew. Our 
Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, telegraphed the 
following message to the American Secretary of State on June 16, 1915: 
``Deportation of and excesses against peaceful Armenians is increasing 
and from harrowing reports of eyewitnesses it appears that a campaign 
of race extermination is in progress under the pretext of reprisal 
against rebellion.''
  Not only did the world stand by while atrocities took place, but it 
also refused to learn the awful lessons that were taught during this 
period. One leader who did acknowledge the Armenian genocide was 
Winston Churchill, who wrote the following in 1929:

       In 1915, the Turkish Government began and carried out the 
     infamous general massacre and deportation of Armenians in 
     Asia Minor . . . the clearance of the race from Asia Minor 
     was about as complete as such an act, on a scale so great, 
     could be. There is no reasonable doubt that this crime was 
     planned and executed for political reasons.

  But, for the most part, nations did not learn from history. The world 
looked away and genocidal horrors revisited the planet.
  Each year we vow that the incalculable horrors suffered by the 
Armenian people will not be in vain. That is surely the highest tribute 
we can pay to the Armenian victims and a way in which the horror and 
brutality of their deaths can be given redeeming meaning. I ask my 
colleagues to join me in remembering the Armenian genocide.

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