[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 47 (Wednesday, April 24, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H1606-H1607]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             ARMENIANS STILL SEEK JUSTICE FOR 1915 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, today Members of this House have come to 
the floor to remember and commemorate the 87th anniversary of the 
Armenian genocide.
  On April 24, 1915, hundreds of Armenian religious, political, and 
intellectual leaders were rounded up, exiled, and eventually murdered 
by Turkish order in remote areas of Anatolia. Over the next 8 years, 
hundreds of thousands of Armenian men, women, and children perished at 
the hands of the Ottomans.
  By recognizing and commemorating the Armenian genocide each year, 
this House helps ensure that the lessons of this terrible crime against 
humanity are not forgotten, cannot be denied and hopefully might help 
prevent future genocides of other peoples.
  The single greatest obstacle to the official recognition of the 
Armenian genocide is the Republic of Turkey. In spite of overwhelming 
evidence documenting the genocide, most of it housed at the United 
States Archives, modern-day Turkey continues to pursue a campaign to 
deny and to ultimately erase from world history the 1.5 million victims 
of Ottoman Turkey's deliberate massacres and deportations of the 
Armenian people between 1915 and 1923.
  Successive Turkish governments have also deliberately destroyed the 
immense cultural heritage of Armenians in Turkey, carrying out a 
systematic campaign to erase evidence of the historic Armenian presence 
in Eastern Anatolia.
  Since 1982, successive U.S. administrations, reluctant to offend 
Turkey, have in effect supported the Turkish Government's revisionist 
campaign and opposed passage of the Congressional Armenian Genocide 
Resolution. These administrations have objected to the use of the word 
``genocide'' to describe the systematic destruction of the Armenian 
people.
  Rather than supporting Turkey's denials, Mr. Speaker, I hope that 
President Bush will officially recognize the Armenian genocide and 
encourage Turkey to come to terms with its past.
  Rather than creating tension in the region, I believe such actions 
would decrease the tension and suspicions that have long inhibited 
cooperation in that region.
  Thirty-one of our States, including my own State of Massachusetts, 
have recognized the Armenian genocide. And I want to thank the cochairs 
of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Pallone) for their outstanding work to ensure that we never forget 
those who perished and those who survived the Armenian genocide. In 
their names and in their memory, we must demand recognition.

[[Page H1607]]

  Mr. Speaker, I enter into the Record an article by Jason Sohigian 
that appeared in my hometown newspaper, The Worcester Telegram and 
Gazette, describing why Armenians still seek justice for the 1915 
genocide by the Ottomans.
  Mr. Speaker, it is past time for the United States to recognize 
officially the Armenian genocide. There can be no justice without the 
truth. In the name of all humanity, let it happen now.
  The article previously referred to is as follows:

        [From the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, Apr. 23, 2002]

       Armenians Still Seek Justice for 1915 Genocide by Ottomans

                          (By Jason Sohigian)

       The Armenian genocide is still subject to a massive 
     campaign of denial by modern Turkey and distortion by some of 
     its allies, including Israel--much to the embarrassment of 
     Jewish historians. While the rest of the world recognizes the 
     systematic, premeditated nature of the Armenian genocide, 
     Turkey continues to devote massive amounts of resources 
     toward its policy of denial.
       Often people wonder why the genocide, which happened so 
     long ago, is still important to so many people so far away 
     from the scene of the crime.
       Why? Because Ottoman Turkey succeeded in annihilating more 
     than half of the Armenian population of historic Armenian. 
     Entire villages, towns and cities were wiped out. Families 
     were killed and their property illegally confiscated. A 
     3,000-year-old indigenous culture was utterly disrupted and 
     uprooted.
       Not one Armenian family in the world remains untouched by 
     this catastrophic event. Nearly every Armenian community 
     leader, intellectual, and priest in the Ottoman Turkish 
     capital, Istanbul, was rounded up on April 24, 1915, and 
     massacred. That initiated the campaign of terror, and from 
     that day forward nearly every Armenian family suffered losses 
     throughout Ottoman Turkey.
       My own grandfather witnesses the death of family members 
     and lived as an orphan for many years until finally being 
     reunited with the remnants of her family in the United 
     States. My mother attempted to reconstruct my grandmother's 
     story for the historical record while my grandmother was 
     still able to remember what happened during those years.
       Knowing that these few orphans managed to survive and 
     regenerate into the Armenian community of today is truly an 
     inspiration. I could not help but feel, both as an Armenian 
     and as an heir to the tragedy, the tremendous sense of 
     obligation to achieve justice for the Armenian people.
       That is the meaning behind the efforts to achieve 
     recognition for the Armenian genocide, 87 years after the 
     fact. Armenians living in the diaspora ask their governments 
     to recognize this event, and urge Turkey to do the same. 
     Recognition of the genocide is a pan-Armenian concern, and 
     following the independence of Armenian after the fall of the 
     Soviet Union in 1991, even the Armenian government of today 
     has made recognition a major part of its foreign policy 
     agenda.
       The issue of recognition has several aspects, among them a 
     moral obligation, a political dimension and a legal 
     component.
       Because so much effort has been expended combating denial 
     over the years, many related issues still have not been 
     explored. Armenians worldwide are now raising the issue of 
     reparations for land and other stolen Armenian property. Just 
     recently, class-action lawsuits were initiated against the 
     New York Life and French Axa insurance companies, which sold 
     policies in Ottoman Turkey to families and failed to pay the 
     benefits to the heirs of those who were later massacred in 
     the Armenian genocide.
       Modern Turkey is the beneficiary of its Ottoman past, and 
     it vigorously celebrates this fact--except when it comes to 
     the Armenian genocide. Many of the Ottoman leaders who 
     participated in the Armenian genocide went on to become 
     officials of the modern Turkish state, and Turkey continues 
     to profit from the confiscated land and property of the 
     Armenian people.
       Armenians will never forget. Nor will they forgive--until 
     justice is served.
       But governments and leaders, too, must speak out. 
     Individuals, too, must raise their voices. Conscience must 
     prevail.

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