[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 66 (Thursday, April 24, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E713]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDWARD R. ROYCE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 24, 2008

  Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, on April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Empire set 
out on a campaign to exterminate the Armenian people. Between 1915 and 
1923, the numbers were horrific. One and a half million Armenians were 
murdered and 500,000 deported from their homelands. At the end of these 
eight years, the Armenian population of Anatolia and Western Armenia 
was virtually eliminated, becoming one of the 20th century's darkest 
chapters.
  While acknowledging the role played by the Ottoman Empire in killing 
Armenians, some have laid doubt to the claim of genocide, citing the 
subsequent deportation of the survivors as merely a movement of a 
people from one land to another. Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. Ambassador 
to the Ottoman Empire from 1913-1916, saw it much differently. In his 
memoirs, Morgenthau recalls that the Turks, ``never had the slightest 
idea of reestablishing the Armenians in (a) new country'' knowing that 
``the great majority of those would . . . either die of thirst and 
starvation, or be murdered by the wild Mohammedan desert tribes.''
  I recall Morgenthau's words here because he saw first hand the 
atrocities wrought on the Armenians, and he had been told by Turks that 
they understood quite well that they had handed down a death sentence 
to the Armenian people. The Turks not only knew of what they were 
doing, but spoke quite freely of it. Eighty years later, however, many 
are still unwilling to recognize the killing for what it was: genocide.
  The U.S. has long been a global leader in promoting human rights 
around the world. On the issue of the Armenian genocide, however, we 
lag behind. The French, Swiss, Swedish, Germans, and even the Russian 
governments recognize the Armenian genocide properly. As a global 
leader in human rights, it is imperative for the U.S. to stand on 
principle and recognize the annihilation of the Armenians.
  However, it is no less important today to recognize the Armenian 
genocide for what it is. The deafening silence that came in its wake 
set the stage for a century that saw genocides occur in Europe, Africa, 
and Asia. While the Armenian genocide was the first of the 20th 
century, the blind eye cast to the slaughter of Armenians was a point 
used by Hitler who asked his joint chiefs of staff, ``Who . . . speaks 
today of the [their] annihilation?''
  To the critics who say that we should not dwell on history, I say 
it's much harder to get tomorrow right if we get yesterday wrong. The 
world's strength to oppose killing today is made greater by 
accountability, for actions present, but also past. It's weakened by 
denial of accountability of past acts. Not recognizing the Armenian 
genocide, as such, does just that.

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