[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 24, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H1532-H1533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REMEMBER THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, each year I am deeply humbled when we 
gather in the United States House of Representatives to honor the 
memory of the 1.5 million Armenians who perished and the 500,000 
survivors who were forcibly exiled from their ancestral homes in 
Ottoman Turkey during the years 1915 to 1923. Some of those survivors, 
Mr. Speaker, are part of my own community in Worcester, Massachusetts. 
I had the opportunity to meet with several of them on Sunday during a 
special program in the historic Armenian Church of Our Savior.
  It is difficult to fathom a greater evil than the massacre and 
willful destruction of a people. Those who deny that a holocaust took 
place when there are recorded accounts of the barbarity are complicit 
and often perpetuate a cycle of violence. This is the injustice much of 
the world has committed against the Armenian people.
  Elie Wiesel, Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor, has called denial 
of genocide a double killing: The denial of genocide seeks to reshape 
history in order to demonize the victims and rehabilitate the 
perpetrators and is, in effect, the final stage of genocide. Nobel 
laureate and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the Preface to 
the Encyclopedia of Genocide, which was published in 1999 by the 
Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, writes, ``It is 
possible that if the world had been conscious of the genocide that was 
committed by the Ottoman Turks against the Armenians, the first 
genocide of the 20th century, then perhaps humanity might have been 
more alert to the warning signs that were being given before Hitler's 
madness was unleashed on an unbelieving world.''
  And last year, Mr. Speaker, Israeli Minister of Education Yossi Sarid 
said publicly, ``I will do everything in order that Israeli children 
learn and know more about the Armenian Genocide. Something happened 
that cannot be defined except as genocide; 1.5 million people 
disappeared. It was not negligence. It was deliberate.''
  And so scholars and eyewitnesses, Nobel laureates and Armenian 
survivors have spoken for 86 long years. And now we have entered the 
21st century. After a long silence, governments are beginning to 
respond. They are beginning to acknowledge formally the Armenian 
Genocide. The European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the 
Council of Europe and the United Nations now recognize and reaffirm the 
Armenian Genocide as historical fact. In the last 5 years alone the 
parliaments of Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, 
Russia and Sweden have passed resolutions officially recognizing the 
Armenian Genocide.
  Last November, Pope John Paul II issued a communique condemning the 
Armenian Genocide as a ``prologue to horrors'' that would follow in the 
20th century. Earlier this year, French President Jacques Chirac signed 
into law a bill stating that France publicly recognizes the Armenian 
Genocide of 1915. And authorities in Paris have voted to erect a 
memorial to the genocide of the Armenian people.
  Sadly, Mr. Speaker, France has achieved the moral leadership that the 
United States Congress and the White House have failed to fulfill. Last 
year, for the first time, the Congress moved forward on a resolution 
officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide, a resolution I proudly 
cosponsored. Unfortunately, the politics of denial and political 
expediency combined to thwart that effort. Bowing to pressure from the 
current Turkish Government, the measure was kept from coming to the 
House floor.
  So, we begin again this year. In the House, I am an original 
cosponsor of a new resolution to have the United States officially 
recognize the Armenian Genocide. Thirty of our States, including 
Massachusetts, have passed resolutions officially recognizing the 
Armenian Genocide. We have a new President, who pledged during his 
campaign that he would officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. I 
have joined with over 100 of my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats 
alike, in sending a letter to President Bush asking that he honor his 
pledge. I believe in my heart that we can build on the progress made 
last year and perhaps this year, 2001, will be seen as the year when 
Congress finally debated and approved this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I am blessed to represent a district that includes a 
vibrant Armenian American community. They have educated the broader

[[Page H1533]]

Worcester community and indeed all of Massachusetts about the history 
and heritage of Armenian Americans, for out of one of the greatest 
tragedies of the 20th century came this community, made up of survivors 
of the genocide and the families and children of survivors. They have 
created houses of worship, community centers, neighborhood activists 
and dedicated workers in every profession. They are the living legacy. 
The Armenian nation survives in Europe, and the heritage of Armenia 
thrives in America.
  I will work with my colleagues to make sure that the United States 
will officially recognize the Armenian Genocide and that all of our 
children will learn this history and understand why it is part of 
America's history and culture.

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