[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 51 (Thursday, April 30, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E726-E727]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO VICTIMS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CHARLES E. SCHUMER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 30, 1998

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise this day to add my voice to the 
chorus of my colleagues in remembering the atrocious massacre of the 
Armenian people during World War I, the first genocide of the 20th 
century. I have always held that if the world had recognized this 
tragedy then, and learned from it, a step would have been taken toward 
preventing later massacres committed by the likes of Adolf Hitler and 
Pol Pot.
  With every voice we lift, the Armenian people gain more strength to 
press for the acknowledgement of this genocide committed by

[[Page E727]]

the Ottoman empire. Americans, as a humanitarian people, must work with 
the Armenian communities to restore the names and faces of Armenian 
victims and honor their memories. We commemorate this anniversary to 
show that we have not forgotten, and will not forget what has taken 
place. We recognize this anniversary to say that we will resist the 
efforts of some to distort the truth about this genocide hoping to 
thereby minimize its significance.
  Our efforts to remember must be matched by our actions to prevent 
genocides from ever again being committed in this world. Eighty-three 
years after Turkey's holocaust of the Armenians and fifty-three years 
after Hitler's holocaust of the Jews, we are still combating religious 
and ethnic intolerance and the attempts by despotic governments to 
silence unwanted minorities with bullets and fire. With the survivors 
of these genocides now few in number, it is our task, as those who know 
those survivors, to educate our children so that these killings will 
not be forgotten. If we fail in this task, our children may very well 
come to have new genocides to remember.
  It is because of this duty to history that I commend the efforts of 
the Armenian community to shed light on the genocide which wiped out so 
many of their people. Without their strength and perseverance the full 
truth about the Armenian people and their struggle would be unknown to 
many today. Because of all this, it is vital for everyone today to 
commemorate the survival of the Armenian people in spite of what 
happened, and through that commemoration, to help prevent such crimes 
from ever happening again.

                          ____________________