[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 31 (Friday, March 5, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E319]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 H. RES. 252, AFFIRMATION OF THE UNITED STATES RECORD ON THE ARMENIAN 
                          GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

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                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 5, 2010

  Mr. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I rise today on a topic of deep personal 
significance. Today the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed H. Res. 
252, the Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian 
Genocide Resolution. The next step is for the full House of 
Representatives to consider this resolution and finally place our 
country on the right side of history.
  To all Americans and Armenian-Americans such as myself, this matter 
is not a historical exercise. It is about truth and justice. It is 
about acknowledging that a genocide which has long been documented and 
discussed took place . . . the first genocide of the 20th Century.
  The time for avoiding the truth of the Armenian Genocide has passed. 
More than 90 years after the fact, no one can seriously question 
whether the systematic annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians was 
genocide. It's a fact.
  To those who say that this is an inopportune time, an inconvenient 
time to acknowledge it, I quote my dear friend, the late Senator Edward 
Kennedy, ``facts are stubborn things.'' They don't yield to convenience 
nor wait for opportunity.
  The United States was a leader in the relief effort for the 
Genocide's victims in the 1920s, extending help to people like my 
mother who fled the massacres. Those of us who have lived with this 
tragedy in our families and our communities see today the disturbing 
similarities taking place around the world in the bleak landscapes of 
Darfur and the Nineveh Plains region of Iraq. If we're serious when we 
say ``never again,'' we must be honest about history.
  Genocide is the most barbaric and criminal act mankind can commit. 
Our condemnation today must be full-throated and unambiguous. Thank you 
Chairman Berman and Representative Schiff for having the courage to 
introduce this measure and pass it out of committee. Please join me in 
voting ``yes'' on this resolution when it reaches the House Floor.

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