[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 60 (Thursday, April 23, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E959]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            COMMEMORATING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE DAY

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                          HON. GARY C. PETERS

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 23, 2009

  Mr. PETERS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the Armenian 
Genocide Remembrance Day, which is observed by communities around the 
world on April 24th. It is of great importance that atrocities past are 
not forgotten, but rather serve as a solemn reminder of the importance 
of our continued vigilance and opposition to genocide today.
  On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Empire arrested Armenian intellectuals 
and community leaders in Constantinople, marking the beginning of an 
eight year campaign against Armenian civilians. By the genocide's end 
in 1923, roughly one and a half million unarmed men, women and children 
were rounded up, stripped of all their possessions and means of 
support, and sent on death marches or to concentration camps.
  Nearly a century later, these events still resonate across the world. 
I am proud of the United States' strong and continued history in 
standing up to and opposing genocide. I am proud to join with so many 
of my colleagues who have weighed in on this issue and have called on 
Turkey and Armenia to have an open and honest dialogue about their 
past.
  Madam Speaker, as we observe the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, 
it is important that we pay our respects to the hundreds of thousands 
of lives senselessly lost. My thoughts and prayers on this day will be 
with the Armenian community in Oakland County, Michigan and throughout 
the world.

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