[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 47 (Friday, April 24, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S3596]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                 COMMEMORATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today as I and a number 
of my colleagues do every year to mark and remember a dark day in human 
history: The beginning of the systematic extermination of 1.5 million 
Armenian men, women, and children.
  On April 24, 1915--eighty-three years ago--the Ottoman Empire 
launched a brutal and unconscionable policy of mass murder. Over an 
eight year period, 1.5 million Armenians were killed, and another 
500,000 were driven from their homes, their land and property 
confiscated.
  As we remember the dark past of the Armenian people, however, our act 
of remembrance also offers the opportunity to celebrate hope and the 
resilience of the human spirit. Today, the people of Armenia can look 
to a promising future, as they continue to work for democracy and peace 
in their homeland.
  The Armenian genocide was the first genocide of the twentieth 
century, an appalling precursor to events in Nazi Germany, Soviet 
Russia, Cambodia, Bosnia and Central Africa, as well as too numerous 
other places. As we mark this day of remembrance, people of conscience 
around the world must redouble our commitment to fight for human 
dignity and freedom, and vow to never again allow genocide to 
occur.

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