[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 46 (Wednesday, April 12, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H2171]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      COMMEMORATING THE 85TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Berman) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 85th 
anniversary of the start of the Armenian genocide, one of the most 
horrific episodes of human history.
  In early 1915, Britain and Russia launched major offensives intended 
to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the first World War. In the east, 
Russian forces inflicted massive losses on the Ottomans, who reacted by 
lashing out at the Armenians, whom they accused of undermining the 
Empire.
  On April 24, 1915, the Turkish government began to arrest Armenian 
community and political leaders suspected of harboring nationalist 
sentiments. Most of those arrested were executed without ever being 
charged with crimes.
  The government then moved to deport most Armenians from eastern 
Anatolia, ordering that they resettle in what is now Syria. Many 
deportees never reached that destination. The U.S. Ambassador in 
Constantinople at the time, Henry Morgenthau, wrote ``When the Turkish 
authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely 
giving the death warrant to a whole race.''
  From 1915 to 1918, more than a million Armenians died of starvation 
or disease on long marches, or were massacred outright by Turkish 
forces. From 1918 to 1923, Armenians continued to suffer at the hands 
of the Turkish military, which eventually removed all remaining 
Armenians from Turkey.
  We mark this anniversary each year because this horrible tragedy for 
the Armenian people was a tragedy for all humanity. We must remember, 
speak out and teach future generations about the horrors of genocide 
and the oppression and terrible suffering endured by the Armenian 
people.
  Sadly, genocide is not yet a vestige of the past. In recent years we 
have witnessed the ``killing fields'' of Cambodia, mass ethnic killings 
in Bosnia and Rwanda, and ``ethnic cleansing'' in Kosovo. We must renew 
our commitment to remain vigilant and prevent such assaults on humanity 
from occurring ever again.
  Even as we remember the tragedy and honor the dead, we also honor the 
living. Out of the ashes of their history, Armenians all over the world 
have clung to their identity and prospered in new communities. Hundreds 
of thousands of Armenians live in California, where they form a strong 
and vibrant community. The strength they have displayed in overcoming 
tragedy to flourish in this country is an example for all of us.
  Surrounded by countries hostile to them, to this day the Armenian 
struggle continues. But now with an independent Armenian state, the 
United States has the opportunity to contribute to a true memorial to 
the past by strengthening Armenia's emerging democracy. We must do all 
we can through aid and trade to support Armenia's efforts to construct 
an open political and economic system.
  Adolf Hitler, the architect of the Nazi Holocaust, once remarked 
``Who remembers the Armenians?'' The answer is, we do. And we will 
continue to remember the victims of the 1915-23 genocide because, in 
the words of the philosopher George Santayana, ``Those who cannot 
remember the past are condemned to repeat it.''

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