[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 52 (Thursday, March 26, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E789]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               OTTOMAN EMPIRE DOCUMENTS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 26, 2009

  Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, recently, the New York Times reported on 
a recently published book The Remaining Documents of Talat Pasha by 
Turkish author Murat Bardakci. The book details Pasha's methodical 
reordering of the disappearance of nearly 1 million Armenians in a 2-
year period. Pasha served as interior minister to the Ottoman Empire 
and helped orchestrate the Armenian Genocide. Like the Nazis, Pasha 
kept detailed population figures of the Ottoman Empire's Christian 
ethnic minority, the Armenians.
  Before 1915, 1.2 million Armenians lived in what today is modern 
Turkey. By 1917, the number was down to 284,000 Armenians. Bardakci 
received these original lists of population figures from Pasha's wife, 
Hayriye Talat, in 1983. However, he waited to include them in his book 
until he felt Turkey was ready to receive them.
  As the New York Times reported in November of 1920, Talat Pasha used 
to say, ``the only way to dispose of the Armenia question is to kill 
the Armenians.'' As Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau 
made many courageous efforts to stop the ethnic cleansing of the 
Armenians, as well as alert Americans to the genocide that was taking 
place. Morgenthau, who dealt with Talat in Istanbul, believed strongly 
that Pasha was fully responsible for the killings of the Armenians.
  These figures in Bardakci's book provide further evidence that those 
who masterminded the genocide against the Armenians were obsessed with 
exterminating all the Armenian people. Talat Pasha's meticulous figures 
bring to mind the Nazis who kept records of 17 million victims, 
including the Jews who were exterminated during the holocaust. In 
aggregate, the Nazis kept 50 million pages of documents now available 
for the families of those who lost loved ones, scholars, and the 
public.
  Unfortunately, Bardakci does not believe that the Armenian Genocide 
took place. Like his government, he is an outspoken denier. However, he 
believes that Turkish people should be exposed to historical documents. 
Bardakci is correct that Turkey needs documents. This week's Times 
article astutely notes the chilling silence that swept over Turkey in 
response to these figures. Turkey needs to come to terms with its past.
  It is with sadness that it may take the figures of the man who 
orchestrated the genocide to convince the Turkish government and the 
Turkish people that 90 years ago the Ottoman Empire committed genocide 
against the Armenians. I am hopeful that Turkey will soon unclench its 
hold on its people's memory and openly discuss the Armenian genocide; 
instead of using words like ``alleged'' or funding a multi-million 
dollar lobby in the United States to distort fact.
  It has taken a while, but Americans look back constantly on our own 
history. We question why we enslaved millions of Africans. We question 
why we slaughtered millions of Native Americans. We discuss it in our 
schools. We reflect on our history. Doing this helps our nation deal 
with its past and enables us to learn and heal.
  Not only does Turkey deny the Armenian Genocide, it asks Americans to 
deny it as well. It asks the United States Congress not to honor the 
victims of the genocide. The Armenian Diaspora exists today because of 
the genocide. Why should Armenian-American voices be silenced? Why are 
the voices of those who want to end the vicious cycle of genocide being 
hushed? Why do we allow ourselves year after year to be threatened by 
Turkey?
  These are our constituents who lost loved ones in the Genocide. We 
must honor their memory and not be bullied by Turkey.

                          ____________________