[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 51 (Tuesday, April 20, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E548]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS ON THE OCCASION OF THE 89TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 
                           ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. MICHAEL R. McNULTY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 20, 2004

  Mr. McNULTY. Mr. Speaker, I join today with many of my colleagues in 
remembering the victims of the Armenian Genocide. April 24th will be 
the 89th anniversary of this human tragedy.
  From 1915 to 1923, the world witnessed the first genocide of the 20th 
century. This was clearly one of the world's greatest tragedies--the 
deliberate and systematic Ottoman annihilation of 1.5 million Armenian 
men, women, and children. Furthermore, another 500,000 refugees fled 
and escaped to various points around the world--effectively eliminating 
the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire.
  From these ashes arose hope and promise in 1991--and I was blessed to 
see it. I was one of the four international observers from the United 
States Congress to monitor Armenia's independence referendum. I went to 
the communities in the northern part of Armenia, and I watched in awe 
as 95 percent of the people over the age of 18 went out and voted.
  The Armenian people had been denied freedom for so many years and, 
clearly, they were very excited about this new opportunity. Almost no 
one stayed home. They were all out in the streets going to the polling 
places. I watched in amazement as people stood in line for hours to get 
into these small polling places and vote.
  Then, after they voted, the other interesting thing was that they did 
not go home. They had brought covered dishes with them, and all of 
these polling places had little banquets afterward to celebrate what 
had just happened.
  What a great thrill it was to join them the next day in the streets 
of Yerevan when they were celebrating their great victory. Ninety-eight 
percent of the people who voted cast their ballots in favor of 
independence. It was a wonderful experience to be there with them when 
they danced and sang and shouted, ``Ketse azat ankakh Hayastan''--long 
live free and independent Armenia! That should be the cry of freedom-
loving people everywhere.

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