[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 48 (Thursday, April 27, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E643]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK FOLEY

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 27, 2006

  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, Reuters news recently reported that Turkish 
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is ready for a ``political settling 
of accounts with history'' provided that historians would prepare an 
unbiased study of claims that millions of Armenians were the victims of 
genocide under Ottoman rule during the First World War.
  That accounting has already been done. A March 7, 2000 public 
declaration by 126 Holocaust Scholars affirmed the incontestable fact 
of the Armenian Genocide and urged Western democracies to officially 
recognize it.
  This declaration by foremost scholars from around the world was 
adopted at the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Scholar's Conference on the 
Holocaust convening at St. Joseph University, Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, March 3-7, 2000. The petitioners, among whom was Nobel 
Laureate for Peace Elie Wiesel, also called upon Western democracies to 
urge the government and parliament of Turkey to finally come to terms 
with this dark chapter of Ottoman-Turkish history and to recognize the 
Armenian Genocide. According to this renowned gathering, Turkish 
acknowledgment would provide an invaluable impetus to that nation's 
democratization.
  Monday, April 24th marked the 91st anniversary of the 1.5 million 
Armenian deaths and countless exiles in 1915 caused by the Ottoman 
Empire. President Bush commented that ``it was a tragedy and should 
always be remembered.''
  In December 2005, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier announced 
that Turkey would be expected to recognize the event during EU 
accession negotiations. ``This is an issue that we will raise during 
the negotiation process,'' he said. ``We will have about 10 years to do 
so and the Turks will have about 10 years to ponder their answer.''
  If Turkey is prepared to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, then its 
leaders can proceed immediately to direct dialogue with its 
counterparts in Armenia to define a common vision for the future. By so 
doing, Turkey will begin the vital process of preparing its citizens 
for a more complete and honest assessment of the final acts of the 
Ottoman Turkish state and embracing the new opportunities available to 
them by gaining possible admittance into the European Union. Facing 
history squarely will liberate Turkey.

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