[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 24, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H1527-H1528]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING THE MEMORY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Royce) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking the Armenia 
caucus for bringing us together to honor the memory of the greatest 
tragedy of Armenian history. This tragedy holds a valuable historical 
lesson for all of us.
  I myself in California growing up got to know several Armenian 
families. One man, one elderly man in one of the families that I knew, 
he was the sole survivor of the Armenian genocide. So the lessons are 
not just for those that were directly involved; it is for all of

[[Page H1528]]

 us. It is for all of us to know it is important that we as Americans 
acknowledge this genocide. That is what we are talking about today.
  Some 56 years ago, my father entered Dachau concentration camp in 
Germany with the Seventh Army. He took photographs there that day of 
those surviving that genocide, those starving people that the American 
troops fed and liberated.
  He remembers the quote from Adolph Hitler when Hitler was cautioned 
by the German chiefs of staff about his genocidal plans. Of course, as 
we have heard tonight, Hitler's retort was, ``Who remembers the 
Armenians?''
  Well, 86 years ago today, the Ottoman Empire set out on a well-
orchestrated campaign to exterminate a race of people. On that day, 
they began the campaign by focusing on the Armenian religious and 
political and intellectual leaders that they arrested in 
Constantinople, and they murdered them.
  In the years that followed, Armenians living under Ottoman rule were 
systematically deprived of their property, their individual rights, and 
ultimately, of their lives. As we have heard, between 1915 and 1923, 
the number of deaths was horrific. Some 1.5 million Armenians were 
murdered and 500,000 were deported from their homeland; and at the end 
of these 8 years, the Armenian population of Anatolia and western 
Armenia was virtually eliminated.
  Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the 
time, characterized this as a death warrant to a whole race. Morgenthau 
recognized that this campaign was ethnic cleansing. It is unfortunate 
that the Turkish Government to this day does not recognize this. 
Willful ignorance of the lessons of history all but ensures that those 
mistakes can be made again.
  In the last Congress, I joined 143 of my colleagues to cosponsor a 
congressional resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide. The 
resolution expressly differentiated between the Ottoman Empire and the 
modern day Republic of Turkey. We understand these are not the same 
governments.
  Unfortunately, despite hard-fought efforts, the resolution was never 
able to come to the House floor last Congress because of concerns, in 
my mind concerns without merit, with Turkey's reaction. I believed 
then, as I do now, that it remains important for the Congress to go on 
the record.
  Beyond affirming the U.S. record on the Armenian genocide, the 
resolution encouraged awareness and understanding of what genocide is, 
and this crime against humanity has been compounded to this day by 
those who refuse to recognize it. The victims and their families, many 
of whom live in the United States, are owed this recognition. That is 
why we must have this resolution pass this floor.
  In my home State of California, the State Board of Education has 
incorporated the story of Armenian genocide in the social studies 
curriculum. California is doing the right thing.
  As of last September, California law now permits victims of the 
Armenian genocide and their heirs to use California courts to pursue 
unpaid insurance claims. The tentative settlement reached between heirs 
of Armenian genocide victims and New York Life Insurance over claims 
that New York Life failed to honor are an estimated 2,500 valid 
insurance claims. That is a good start.
  The Armenian genocide is not simply a problem of the past; it has 
implications for the future. Our actions now will lay the groundwork 
for addressing genocide whenever it threatens to erupt again.
  Many of the survivors of the genocide and their descendents now live, 
as I say, in the United States, many in California. This 85-year-old 
tragedy is more than an event in history. By recognizing and learning 
about the crime against humanity, we can begin to honor the courage of 
its victims and commemorate the strides made by its survivors.

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