[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 59 (Wednesday, April 22, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E924]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      COMMEMORATING THE 94TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JERRY F. COSTELLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 22, 2009

  Mr. COSTELLO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of the 
victims of the Armenian genocide and ask my colleagues to support H. 
Res. 252, a bill to commemorate the Armenian genocide.
  Over 94 years ago this week, Ottoman Empire authorities arrested some 
250 Armenian community and political leaders in Constantinople. This 
event signaled the beginning of the deliberate and systematic mass 
murder of 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children.
  From 1915-1923, more than a million Armenians were forced to resettle 
in Ottoman Syria. To get there, ethnic Armenians were told to march 
from Turkish Armenia, many of them dying of starvation, disease, or 
massacre by Turkish forces. Those who survived faced continued abuse at 
the hands of the Turkish authorities, causing the rest of the 
population to perish or flee the region as refugees. This effectively 
eliminated the Armenian population from the Ottoman Empire.
  Despite facing some of the worst atrocities of the modern world, 
Armenians have overcome adversity and continue to prosper as an 
independent, democratic state. The United States and Armenia have built 
a long-lasting, strong relationship and we continue to stand by our 
friend and ally to sustain cooperation on issues of global and regional 
importance.
  As citizens of a global society, we have a solemn obligation not to 
ignore history or the horrific events of the past. The Armenian 
genocide marks the first known genocide of the 20th Century, a century 
only sadly to be marred by repeated offenses against humanity from the 
Holocaust to Darfur. To commemorate this inhumane event reminds us that 
ethnic conflict still plagues the modern world and is a pressing issue 
for the international community. As a member of the Congressional 
Armenian Caucus and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, I remain 
committed to achieving a future free from unnecessary violence, hatred, 
and indifference.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in remembering and 
acknowledging the American genocide and the victims of its atrocities 
to ensure we do not repeat the mistakes of the past.

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