[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 66 (Thursday, April 24, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E734]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      COMMEMORATING THE 93RD ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 24, 2008

  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, today, April 24th, marks the 93rd 
anniversary of the beginning of 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 Ottoman 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 massacres and wholesale destruction of villages 
in Darfur 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.
  With the arrogance of absolute impunity, Adolf Hitler famously urged 
his commanders to attack Poland with no fear of history's judgment 
because, as he put it, ``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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