[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 54 (Tuesday, May 5, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO VICTIMS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 22, 1998

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, on April 24 we commemorate the massacre of 
Armenians in Turkey during and after the first World War. In what 
historians refer to as the first of this century's state-ordered 
genocides against a minority group, more than 1.5 million people were 
murdered. We mourn the dead and express our condolences to the 
descendants of those who perished. We must also reflect upon the 
meaning and lessons of their suffering and sacrifice.
  In the more than eighty years since this unspeakable tragedy, the 
world has witnessed decades of genocide and ethnic cleansing. Civilian 
populations, defined by ethnic, racial or religious distinctiveness, 
have become the objects of persecution and genocide simply because of 
who they are--Armenian Christians, European Jews, Bosnian Muslims, the 
Tutsis of Rwanda. The range of victims--geographical, ethnic, religious 
and political--testifies to the universality of human cruelty and 
fanaticism. The response of the survivors, however, testifies to the 
indestructibilty and the resilience of the human spirit, even in the 
face of the most virulent evil.
  Like the phoenix of mythology, the Armenian people survived its 
bleakest days and arose with renewed vigor. Independent Armenian 
statehood has been restored to guarantee the security and future of the 
nation, and serves as a beacon of hope to Armenian people everywhere. 
It is our fervent hope, Mr. Speaker, that future generations will not 
have to sacrifice as their ancestors have. It is also our hope that all 
parties to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh will build on the now four-
year-old cease-fire and renew their efforts through the OSCE process to 
reach a negotiated settlement. Nothing could honor the memory of the 
victims of 1915 more than an independent and flourishing Armenia living 
in peace with all of its neighbors, and moving and impressing the world 
with both the spiritual and material products of the unbreakable 
Armenian spirit.

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