[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 50 (Friday, April 22, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E739]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      COMMEMORATING THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 21, 2005

  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, this Sunday, April 24th, marks the 90th 
anniversary of the beginning the Armenian Genocide. I rise today to 
commemorate this terrible chapter in human history, and to help ensure 
that it will never be forgotten.
  On April 24, 1915, the Turkish government began to arrest Armenian 
community and political leaders. Many were executed without ever being 
charged with crimes. Then the government deported most Armenians from 
Turkish Armenia, ordering that they resettle in what is now Syria. Many 
deportees never reached that destination.
  From 1915 to 1918, more than a million Armenians died of starvation 
or disease on long marches, or were massacred outright by Turkish 
forces. From 1918 to 1923, Armenians continued to suffer at the hands 
of the Turkish military, which eventually removed all remaining 
Armenians from Turkey.
  We mark this anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide 
because this tragedy for the Armenian people was a tragedy for all 
humanity. It is our duty to remember, to speak out and to teach future 
generations about the horrors of genocide and the oppression and 
terrible suffering endured by the Armenian people.
  We hope the day will soon come when it is not just the survivors who 
honor the dead but also when those whose ancestors perpetrated the 
horrors acknowledge their terrible responsibility and commemorate as 
well the memory of genocide's victims.
  Sadly, we cannot say humanity has progressed to the point where 
genocide has become unthinkable. We have only to recall the ``killing 
fields'' of Cambodia, mass killings in Rwanda, ``ethnic cleansing'' in 
Bosnia and Kosovo, and most recently, the unspeakable horrors in 
Darfur, Sudan to see that the threat of genocide persists. We must 
renew our commitment never to remain indifferent in the face of such 
assaults on innocent human beings.
  We also remember this day because it is a time for us to celebrate 
the contribution of the Armenian community in America--including 
hundreds of thousands in California--to the richness of our character 
and culture. The strength they have displayed in overcoming tragedy to 
flourish in this country is an example for all of us. Their success is 
moving testimony to the truth that tyranny and evil cannot extinguish 
the vitality of the human spirit.
  The United States has an ongoing opportunity to contribute to a true 
memorial to the past by strengthening Armenia's emerging democracy. We 
must do all we can through aid and trade to support Armenia's efforts 
to construct an open political and economic system.
  Adolf Hitler, the architect of the Nazi Holocaust, once remarked 
``Who remembers the Armenians?'' The answer is, we do. And we will 
continue to remember the victims of the 1915-23 genocide because, in 
the words of the philosopher George Santayana, ``Those who cannot 
remember the past are condemned to repeat it.''

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