[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 55 (Tuesday, April 27, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S4423]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the victims of 
the Armenian Genocide, one of the great tragedies of the 20th century. 
Last Saturday, April 24, 2004, marked the 89th anniversary of the 
beginning of that tragic period and I urge all Americans to take time 
to remember, reflect, and pledge never to forget what happened.
  On April 24, 1915, under the guise of collecting supplies for its 
participation in World War I, the Ottoman Empire launched a brutal and 
unconscionable policy of mass murder. The New York Times reported that 
the Ottoman Empire had adopted a policy to annihilate the Armenians 
living within the empire. Throughout the following years, Armenians 
faced violent attacks, starvation, deportation, and murder. Sadly, the 
world took little notice.
  Before the violence began in 1914, 2.5 million Armenians lived in the 
Ottoman Empire. As a result of the genocide, 1.5 million Armenians had 
died and another 500,000 had been driven from their homes and villages. 
We must remember and pay homage to those that died. We must remind the 
world of these deaths and renew our commitment to ensure that such 
tragedies never happen again.
  I am proud to represent an Armenian community of half a million in my 
great State of California. They are a strong and resilient community, 
taking strength in the tragedies of the past and the promise of a 
better tomorrow. This community is leading the effort to preserve the 
memory of the Armenian Genocide not only for future generations of 
Armenian Americans, but, indeed, for all Americans and all citizens of 
the world.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in remembering the first genocide of 
the 20th century. Through our commemoration of this tragedy, we make 
clear that we will not tolerate mass murder and ethnic cleansing ever 
again and we will never forget.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, people around the world are joining 
together to solemnly remember and honor the men, women and children who 
perished in the Armenian genocide. Eighty-none years ago, 1\1/2\ 
million Armenians were systematically massacred at the hands of the 
Ottoman Empire. Over 500,000 more were forced to flee their homeland of 
3,000 years. Before genocide was defined and codified in international 
law, Armenians experienced its horror.
  Yet it appears that the international community did not learn the 
lessons of Armenia's genocide. Throughout the 20th century, the 
international community failed to act as governments in Germany, 
Yugoslavia and Rwanda attempted to methodically eliminate people 
because of their religion or ethnicity. Minority groups were abandoned 
by the international community in each instance to be overwhelmed by 
violence and despair. In Armenia, as in Rwanda and the Holocaust, the 
perpetrating governments scapegoated their minority groups for the 
difficulties they faced as societies. They justified their campaigns of 
hatred with political and economic reasons in an attempt to rationalize 
their depravity.
  This is why we must remember the Armenian genocide. To forget it is 
to enable more genocides and ethnic cleansing to occur. We must honor 
its victims by reaffirming our resolve to not let it happen again.
  In the shadow of the Holocaust, in 1948, the United Nations adopted 
the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of 
Genocide. What Winston Churchill once called a ``crime without a 
name'', was now called ``genocide'' by the Convention and defined as 
``acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a 
national, ethnical, racial or religious group.'' The Convention 
required its parties to create domestic legislation to hold 
perpetrators of genocide accountable for their actions and to place 
these perpetrators before domestic courts or international tribunals.
  The international community has a long way to go in punishing and 
especially, preventing genocide. But we have made the first steps. As 
we move forward, we must learn the lessons of Armenia's genocide. Can 
we recognize the rhetorical veils of murderous leaders, thrown up to 
disguise the agenda at hand? Have we, the international community, 
learned that we must not stand by, paralyzed, as horrors occur, but 
work collectively to prevent and stop genocides from occurring? We owe 
the victims of the Armenian genocide this commitment.

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