[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 55 (Wednesday, April 21, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S4023]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I rise to observe the Armenian Genocide 
Remembrance Day which takes place on April 24. Each year we remember 
and honor the victims, and pay respect to the survivors we are blessed 
to still have with us.
  During the periods 1915-1918 and 1920-1923, approximately 1.5 million 
Armenians perished under the rule of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. The 
Armenian people fell victim to deportation, expropriation, torture, 
starvation and massacre. We signify April 24, 1915 as the day of 
remembrance because of the more than 200 Armenian community leaders who 
were systematically hunted down in Constantinople on this date.
  The Armenian genocide was the result of a consciously orchestrated 
government plan. The United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, 
Henry Morgenthau, stated at the time that, ``When the Turkish 
authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely 
giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, 
and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to 
conceal the fact . . . I am confident that the whole history of the 
human race contains no such horrible episode as this.''
  In an effort to further our understanding of this tragic period, one 
of my constituents, Mae Derdarian, has written an important survivor's 
account of the Armenian genocide. Her book, Vergeen, recounts a 
thirteen-year old girl's deportation from her home, the atrocities she 
survived, her escape from her tormentors, and her ultimate triumph over 
the horrors she witnessed and which were perpetrated on her. In a 
review of Ms. Derdarian's book, The Detroit Jewish News wrote ``Every 
now and then a book comes along that haunts the reader long after the 
last page is turned. Vergeen is one of those stories . . . Mae 
Derdarian has created a page-turner, combing Vergeen's memoir and her 
own mother's recorded accounts of what both women endured as survivors 
of the first genocide of the 20th century.'' Such first-hand accounts 
from survivors are critical to our understanding of genocide, and help 
us all to recognize and honor the lives of the victims.
  Mr. President, each year we remember the horrors suffered by the 
Armenian people during the periods 1915-1918 and 1920-1923 under the 
Ottoman Empire. However, it is not enough to simply remember those who 
have perished. We must dedicate ourselves to see that tragedies such as 
the Armenian Genocide are not revisited on our planet. This is the 
highest tribute we can pay to the victims of any genocide.
  The Armenian people have earned our enduring admiration for 
withstanding the horrors of two world wars and several decades of 
Soviet dominance in order to establish modern Armenia. The United 
States must continue its efforts to support freedom, prosperity and 
stability in Armenia as we honor and remember the victims of the 
Armenian Genocide.

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