[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 46 (Wednesday, April 12, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H2186]
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 California (Mr. Horn) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HORN. Madam Speaker, I stand before my colleagues today, as I 
have in times past, to recognize and pay tribute to those who perished 
during the Armenian Genocide that began almost nine decades ago.
  Turkey's continued refusal to acknowledge the atrocities committed 
against the Armenian people of the Ottoman Empire during the first 
World War has long been of great concern to me as an educator, a United 
States representative, and simply as a member of the global community.
  Each year many colleagues take this special opportunity to recognize 
the fact that more than a million and a half Armenians were killed. In 
addition, much of the Armenian population was forcibly deported. This 
day coming up, April 24, is an opportunity to remind all Americans to 
join with the Armenians at home and in the United States in 
commemoration and memory of those who lost their lives because of the 
tragic events that took place from 1915 to 1918 and again from 1920 to 
1923.
  As an educator, it is important to emphasize the role education 
should play nationally, as well as globally, in ensuring that we do not 
continue to see racial intolerance or religious persecution which has 
in so many cases led to so-called ethnic cleansing by murderous and 
perverted butchers. What an outrage for humans to treat other humans 
such human killers of small children.
  Genocide is not just a chapter in the history of humankind that has 
been sealed and closed forever. It continues to be a progressively 
alarming problem today, as our world grows smaller and our population 
doubles every few years.
  Events during the last two decades, Cambodia, Rwanda, Kosovo attest 
to this fact. We must, therefore, strive to teach our children 
tolerance. Our future generations must not forget those darker moments 
of history in the 21st century. The million and a half Armenians, the 6 
million Jews murdered by Adolph Hitler's orders, the 2 million 
Cambodians murdered by Pol Pot's orders.
  As long as Turkey continues to deny that millions of Armenians were 
killed simply because of their ethnic identification, we will continue 
to stand here and take this important opportunity to ensure that the 
memory of the Armenian Genocide is not forgotten.
  Madam Speaker, educators around the country should use April 24, a 
day that a group of Armenian religious, political, and intellectual 
leaders were arrested in Constantinople and brutally murdered by 
Turkish killers. It is essential to cultivate awareness in our children 
of the past tragedies that have occurred.
  If we do not see the future dangers that will exist, if we refuse to 
acknowledge, understand and vigorously oppose racial and religious 
intolerance, wherever it arises, it would be shame on us and it shall 
not be.

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