[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 46 (Wednesday, April 12, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H2167]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from 
New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) for organizing this special order this evening 
on the Armenian genocide.
  The leadership on this issue of importance to Armenian people has 
been vital. It is with some sadness that I know this will be the last 
statement of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Porter) on the Armenian 
genocide in this body, and I thank the gentleman for all his fine work.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to take note of the tragic occurrences 
perpetrated on the Armenian people between 1915 and 1923 by the Ottoman 
Turkish Empire.
  During this relatively brief time frame, over 1\1/2\ million 
Armenians were massacred and over 500,000 were exiled. Unfortunately, 
the Turkish Government still has not recognized these brutal acts as 
acts of genocide, nor come to terms with its participation in these 
horrific events.

                              {time}  1645

  I believe that by failing to recognize such barbaric acts, one 
becomes complicit in them. That is why as a New York State assemblyman, 
I was proud to support legislation adding lessons on human rights and 
genocide to the State education curricula. I am also a proud cosponsor 
of H. Res. 398, the United States Training on and Commemoration of the 
Armenian Genocide Resolution.
  H. Res. 398 calls upon the President to provide for appropriate 
training and materials to all foreign service officers, officials of 
the Department of State, and any other executive branch employee 
involved in responding to issues related to human rights, ethnic 
cleansing, and genocide by familiarizing themselves with the U.S. 
record relating to the Armenian Genocide.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this very important 
resolution.
  April 24 is recognized as the anniversary date of the Armenian 
Genocide. The history of this date stretches back to 1915, when on 
April 24, 300 Armenian leaders, intellectuals and professionals in 
Constantinople were rounded up, deported and killed, beginning the 
period known as the Armenian Genocide.
  Prior to the Armenian Genocide, these brave people with the history 
of well over 3,000 years old were subject to numerous indignities and 
periodic massacres by the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire. The worst of 
these massacres occurred in 1895 when as many as 300,000 Armenian 
civilians were brutally massacred and thousands more were left 
destitute. Additional massacres were committed in 1909 and 1920. By 
1922, Armenians had been eradicated from their homeland.
  Yet, despite these events, the Armenian people survived as a people 
and a culture in both Europe and the United States. My congressional 
district has a number of Armenians, especially in the Woodside 
community, and their community activism is extraordinary, to say the 
least.
  Mr. Speaker, I make note of this because of a statement by Adolph 
Hitler when speaking about the ``final solution,'' when he said who 
remembers the Armenians. Mr. Speaker, I remember the Armenians and so 
do many of my colleagues speaking here this evening.

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