[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 29, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E798]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. MICHAEL E. CAPUANO

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 9, 2003

  Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise for the fifth consecutive year to 
commemorate a people who despite genocide, hardship, and betrayal have 
persevered. April 24, 2003, marks the 88th anniversary of the Armenian 
Genocide.
  Throughout three decades in the late nineteenth and early twentieth 
centuries, millions of Armenians were systematically uprooted from 
their homeland of three thousand years and deported or massacred. From 
1894 through 1896, three hundred thousand Armenians were ruthlessly 
murdered. Again in 1909, thirty thousand Armenians were massacred in 
Cilicia, and their villages were destroyed.
  On April 24, 1915, two hundred Armenian religious, political, and 
intellectual leaders were arbitrarily arrested, taken to Turkey and 
murdered. This incident marks a dark and solemn period in the history 
of the Armenian people. From 1915 to 1923, the Ottoman Empire launched 
a systematic campaign to exterminate Armenians. In eight short years, 
more than 1.5 million Armenians suffered through atrocities such as 
deportation, forced slavery and torture. Most were ultimately murdered.
  I have had the privilege of joining my colleagues in a letter to the 
President asking that he acknowledge the Genocide in his April 24th 
commemoration statement. It is my hope that the President will stand by 
this pledge he made in 2000. It is my hope that this will be one more 
step toward official recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the United 
States.
  Many of our companions in the international community have already 
taken this final step. The European Parliament and the United Nations 
have recognized and reaffirmed the Armenian Genocide as historical 
fact, as have the Russian and Greek parliaments, the Canadian House of 
Commons, the Lebanese Chamber of Deputies and the French National 
Assembly. It is time for America to join the chorus and acknowledge the 
Armenians who suffered at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. And let me 
stress that I am not speaking of the government of modern day Turkey, 
but rather its predecessor, which many of Turkey's present day leaders 
helped to remove from power.
  As I have in the past, as a member of the Congressional Armenian 
Caucus, I will continue to work with my colleagues and with the 
Armenian-Americans in my District to promote investment and prosperity 
in Armenia. And, I sincerely, hope that this year, the U.S. will have 
the opportunity and courage to speak in support of the millions of 
Armenians who suffered because of their heritage.

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