[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 24, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E614]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  COMMEMORATING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. STEPHEN HORN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 24, 2001

  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, once again I join my colleagues in remembering 
those who suffered the tragic events of the Armenian Genocide. Each 
year, we join the world in commemoration of the Armenian genocide 
because the tragedy of lost lives through ethnic cleansing must not be 
forgotten.
  The Armenian genocide marked the beginning of a barbaric practice in 
the 20th century with more than a million and a half Armenians killed 
and forcibly deported. As the target of persecution by the Ottoman 
Turks, Armenians were systematically uprooted from their homeland and 
eliminated. To this day, the Turkish government continues to deny that 
millions of Armenians were killed simply because of their ethnicity.
  As an educator, I believe it is critical to emphasize the role 
education must play in our international community. We must ensure that 
we do not continue to see actions of racial intolerance or religious 
persecution, which has led to so many cases of ethnic cleansing. The 
tragedies of the past two decades including Cambodia, Rwanda and Kosovo 
attest to this fact. We must, therefore, continue to commit to first 
teaching our children tolerance.
  If we refuse to acknowledge, understand, and vigorously oppose racial 
and religious intolerance, wherever it arises, we are doomed to repeat 
the same tragedies again and again.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank you for this opportunity to commemorate the 
Armenian Genocide. I also want to thank the many Armenian-American 
organizations throughout the nation, and in particular in California, 
for their tremendous work on behalf of the Armenian-American community.

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