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




                   REMEMBERING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I join with my colleagues from the Armenia 
Issues Caucus to recognize the obvious and uncontestable fact that 
during World War I and its aftermath, as many as 1.5 million Armenians 
died in the first genocide of the 20th century.
  The question is not whether we should recognize this genocide, but 
why we have not done so already. The evidence is overwhelming. It has 
been set forth today by the previous speakers, as it has been set forth 
every April 24th, year after year, on the floor of this House.
  Why do we not recognize that which is uncontestable? We are told that 
there are geopolitical reasons why the truth must be shrouded. Well, 
Turkey would be a much better ally of America if Turkey recognized the 
truth. What kind of ally would Germany be if it had a government that 
denied the Holocaust? What kind of ally would America be if we denied 
that slavery occurred or claimed that we had not created great 
injustices to the Native American population, including, frankly, the 
genocide of certain Native American Tribes?
  Turkey is an ally of America, but America has no greater ally than 
the truth. Nothing is more important than that America be recognized as 
being guided by the truth, and eternal truth, and not the geopolitics 
of the hour.

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  History will record that there are very few occasions in which the 
world consents or even a region of the world consents to the existence 
of a single superpower, and the world will not consent to our 
leadership unless that leadership is guided by principle. We must put 
the truth first.
  What if, for example, a new regime should arise in Germany and 
disclaim the Holocaust and demand that we here in Washington marched 
down to the Holocaust Museum and rip it apart brick by brick? The 
response should not be, oh, Germany, is an important and powerful 
country. The response should be that there is nothing more important to 
America than the truth. We must recognize the genocide, and we must 
recognize the needs of those who survived the genocide.
  Last year when the President asked us for $70 million in aid to 
Armenia, this Congress responded with $90 million of aid, additional 
aid to help meet Armenia's security needs. Since its independence, this 
Congress has provided $1.3 billion of aid to that new democracy, and 
this year again we must respond by providing the aid that Armenia 
needs, more than the President provides in his budget. We must make 
sure that we do not aid Azerbaijan as long as that country continues to 
blockade Armenia.
  Finally, with regard to the proposed pipeline, the Baku-Ceyhan 
pipeline, we must make sure that is a pipeline of peace that unites 
Azerbaijan and Armenia as it flows through both of those countries into 
the Mediterranean Sea; and we must make sure that the Export-Import 
Bank does not risk our capital in creating a pipeline of war, a 
pipeline that deliberately circumvents Armenia and tries to create a 
new geopolitical situation in the Caucasus. We must recognize the 
truth. We must build toward peace, prosperity, and progress for Armenia 
and for the entire Caucasus region.

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