[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 53 (Wednesday, April 25, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E630]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    COMMEMORATING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 24, 2001

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, every year on April 24 we commemorate the 
Armenian genocide. Between 1915 and 1923, in what is called the first 
genocide of this century, more than one million Armenians perished and 
500,000 survivors were exiled from their homes in Ottoman Turkey. We 
mark this unspeakable tragedy each year on that date so that we can 
examine what occurred and honor the memory of the victims. Sadly, Mr. 
Speaker, the massacre of the Armenians was not the last genocide of the 
20th Century. In designing his ``final solution to the Jewish problem'' 
Adolf Hitler reflected, ``Who today remembers the Armenians?'' Decades 
later, the cries of these victims echoed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia-
Herzegovina and Kosovo.
  We must remember, Mr. Speaker, but we must also learn from this event 
and ultimately act on that knowledge to prevent such indescribable 
horror from ever occurring again. There are those who deny that there 
was an Armenian genocide. Mr. Speaker, Yehuda Bauer, historian of Yad 
Vashem, has said that ``to deny a genocide . . . is a denial of 
truth.'' We must speak the truth, and that is what we do here in this 
House today.
  As we honor the memory of those who perished, we marvel at the 
strength of the survivors and the generations which have followed. In 
the diaspora, the Armenian people have prospered and flourished 
throughout the world. The creation of the independent state of Armenia 
in 1991 not only provided the Armenian people with a homeland, but is a 
beacon of hope for the future. It is our hope, Mr. Speaker, that 
Armenia will thrive and prosper and continue to fortify its democracy.
  It is also our hope, Mr. Speaker, that the people of Armenia and 
Azerbaijan will redouble their efforts to find a solution to the 
conflict in Nagomo-Karabagh. I commend our government for bringing the 
parties together in Florida recently for renewed negotiations, and I 
hope that this intensified effort will result in an agreement that will 
ensure lasting peace for all the people of the region.

                          ____________________