[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 49 (Friday, April 26, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E643]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   COMMEMORATION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 25, 2002

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday marked the 87th anniversary of 
the beginning of the Armenian Genocide. On April 24, 1915, 250 Armenian 
intellectuals and political leaders were arrested and later executed as 
the rulers of the Ottoman Empire implemented their plan to eradicate 
their Armenian subjects. This action against the Armenian community's 
elite marked the beginning of one of the most horrendous events in the 
history of humankind. Throughout this past week, Armenians have 
gathered worldwide to remember their martyrs and survivors and to seek 
universal affirmation of this crime against humanity. On Sunday, I 
joined hundreds of Armenian-Americans at a commemorative event in Times 
Square in New York City.
  From 1915-1923, the Ottoman Empire brutally and systematically 
attempted to destroy its Armenian population, killing 1.5 million and 
expelling an additional 500,000 people from their homeland of 3,000 
years. This was the first act of Genocide of the 20th century. It is a 
fact that no amount of revisionist history or blatant denial by the 
Turkish Government can change. It is our duty to the victims and 
survivors of the Armenian Genocide not to let denial prevail.
  Every April 24th, Members of Congress come to the House and Senate 
floor to give support to the memory of the lives cut short by the 
Ottoman Empire. We do so to honor the memory of those innocent victims 
who were set upon for only one reason--they were Armenian. One and a 
half million men and women, young and old, able bodied or not, were 
driven from their ancestral homeland and brutally massacred. That 
number is almost incomprehensible, but let me try to put it in 
perspective.
  In the 1990 census, the population of the City of Philadelphia, the 
fifth largest urban center in the United States, was listed at a little 
over 1.5 million people. The Ottoman Empire drove the equivalent of the 
entire population of this city, the birthplace of the United States 
Constitution, into the deserts to die.
  As a matter of state policy, the Ottoman Turks marched entire 
populations of countless Armenian villages into the desert until they 
died of starvation, disease, exhaustion, or of the tortures and rapes 
that were a fixture on these death marches. Those who survived this 
merciless torment suffered inhumanities that no people should have to 
endure. Some made daring escapes in cover of night, and others were 
committed to slavery. It was not uncommon for a starved Armenian to be 
mistaken for dead and hide under the bodies of their friends and family 
members. There were no proper burials of the dead, no last rites given. 
If we continue to let Turkey deny that this Genocide of an ancient 
people took place, those who died will never have the justice they 
rightly deserve.
  Two weeks ago, 161 Members of this House of Representatives and I 
sent a letter to President Bush asking that he fulfill his campaign 
promise and use the word ``genocide'' in his annual April 24th address. 
We sent a similar letter to the President last year, but with only 107 
signatures. I feel that the 55-member increase in support of this just 
cause is a barometer of the House of Representatives. Members and their 
constituents are clearly calling on the President to characterize the 
Genocide accurately and fully.
  The President's statement yesterday was a graphic depiction of the 
crimes against humanity that were perpetrated against the Armenians in 
the Ottoman Empire from 1915-1923. 1 was disappointed to see that 
President Bush did not use the word genocide in his address, but he did 
call on Turkey to recognize their history. He said ``Transcending this 
venomous pattern requires painful introspection about the past and wise 
determination to forge a new future based on truth and reconciliation. 
In this spirit, I look forward to Turkey restoring economic, political, 
and cultural links with Armenia.''
  The message is clear; Turkey must recognize the genocide of its past 
and accept that Armenia is an integral and necessary sovereign 
neighbor. It must drop the illegal blockade against Armenia, and 
establish full and normal diplomatic and economic relations. 
Reconciliation with its past and normalization of relations with 
Armenia is the only way for Turkey to step out of the dark shadow of 
its history of genocide. The entire western world, which Turkey so 
desires to be a part of, demands it.
  We have seen a tremendous amount of disregard for the sanctity of 
human life in the past year. No one could have predicted the terrorist 
attacks of September 11th, or the profound effect it has had on the 
American people. 3,000 innocent people perished in the fall of the 
World Trade Center Towers in New York City. It seems that everyone knew 
at least one person, directly or not, that lost their lives that day. 
It would take 5,000 Twin Towers to equal the number that died in the 
Genocide.
  The importance of American affirmation of the Armenian Genocide grows 
every year. There are fewer survivors every April 24th, and their small 
numbers are dwindling rapidly. As important as remembering those that 
perished, we must learn the lessons that the loss of their lives gave 
us. The world stood by during the Genocide, and Adolf Hitler learned 
the lesson of indifference. In 1939, to quell the voices of discontent 
amongst his generals on the eve of his invasion of Poland, he said, 
``Who after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?'' 
He destroyed 6 million Jews and millions of others with those eleven 
cynical words.
  As we embark on a new century, we must make sure that we have learned 
the lessons of the humankind's capacity for brutality, and we must 
combat this with truth about the past, compassion for our common man, 
and a refusal to let these crimes against humanity be repeated. We must 
remember and learn from tragic events that befell the Armenians. That 
is the only way that we can be certain that this horrific event, which 
almost destroyed one of the oldest cultures on the planet, from 
happening again.

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