[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 47 (Thursday, April 13, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S2710]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, April 24 marks the 85th anniversary of 
the beginning of one of the most tragic events in history, the Armenian 
Genocide. In 1915, the Ottoman Turkish Government embarked on a brutal 
policy of ethnic extermination. Over the next eight years, 1.5 million 
Armenians were killed, and more than half a million were forced from 
their homeland into exile.
  In the years since then, the Armenian diaspora has thrived in the 
United States and in many other countries, bringing extraordinary 
vitality and achievement to communities across America and throughout 
the world. The Armenian Assembly of America, the Armenian National 
Committee of America, and other distinguished groups deserve great 
credit for their impressive work in maintaining the proud history and 
heritage of the Armenian people, and guaranteeing that the Armenian 
Genocide will never be forgotten.
  One of the enduring achievements of the survivors of the Genocide and 
their descendants has been to keep its tragic memory alive, in spite of 
continuing efforts by those who refuse to acknowledge the atrocities 
that took place. In Massachusetts, the curriculum of every public 
school now includes human rights and genocide, and the Armenian 
Genocide is part of that curriculum.
  As this new century unfolds, it is time for all governments, 
political leaders and peoples everywhere to recognize the Armenian 
Genocide. These annual commemorations are an effective way to pay 
tribute to the courage and suffering and triumph of the Armenian 
people, and to ensure that such atrocities will never happen again to 
any people on earth.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, each year on April 24, we pause to 
remember the tragedy of the Armenian genocide. On that date in 1915, 
more than two hundred Armenian religious, political, and intellectual 
leaders were arrested in Constantinople (now Istanbul) and killed, 
marking the beginning of an organized campaign to eliminate the 
Armenian presence from the Ottoman Empire. This brutal campaign would 
result in the massacre of a million and a half Armenian men, women, and 
children.
  Thousands of Armenians were subjected to torture, deportation, 
slavery, and murder. More than five hundred thousand were removed from 
their homes and sent on forced death marches through the deserts of 
Syria. This dark time is among the saddest chapters in human history.
  But Armenians are strong people, and their dream of freedom did not 
die. More than seventy years after the genocide, the new Republic of 
Armenia was born as the Soviet Union crumbled. Today, we pay tribute to 
the courage and strength of a people who would not know defeat.
  Yet independence has not meant an end to their struggle. There are 
still those who question the reality of the Armenian slaughter, who 
have failed to recognize its very existence. We must not allow the 
horror of the Armenian genocide to be either dismissed or denied.
  Genocide is the worst of all crimes against humanity. As we try to 
learn from the recent genocidal conflicts in Kosovo and Rwanda and 
prevent future atrocities, it is especially important to remember those 
who lost their lives in the first genocide of the twentieth century. We 
must never forget the victims of the Armenian genocide.

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