[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 59 (Wednesday, May 4, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S2681]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ARMENIAN GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE DAY, 2011

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, each year we commemorate Armenian Genocide 
Remembrance Day. April 24 came during our recess this year and marked 
the 96th anniversary of the date in 1915 when Turkish Ottoman 
authorities ordered the rounding up and detention of hundreds of 
Armenian intellectual leaders, civic leaders, writers, priests, 
teachers, and doctors. Many of these leaders would eventually be 
executed. What followed between 1915 and 1923 was an organized campaign 
of deportation, expropriation, conscription, starvation, and other 
atrocities that resulted in the deaths of over 1.5 million Armenians. 
Large numbers of Armenians fled their homeland to seek safety 
elsewhere, including in Michigan and other communities in the United 
States. We remember the tragic events of this period to honor those who 
died and to show our respect and solace for those who survived the 
suffering inflicted on the Armenian people.
  We also remember the Armenian Genocide to remind ourselves of the 
evil which mankind is capable of and to reaffirm our collective 
commitment to a future in which such mass atrocities will not be 
repeated. While the horrific abuses suffered by the Armenians have been 
described as the first genocide of the 20th century, they were soon 
followed by other genocides and mass atrocities, including the 
Holocaust, which Hitler said could be pursued because ``Who, after all, 
speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?'' As the tragedies 
in Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur and elsewhere show, when mankind turns a 
blind eye to an unfolding massacre, those who would use wholesale 
violence against others are emboldened to believe they can act with 
impunity.
  More recently, the international community has come together to 
prevent a massacre of civilians from occurring in Libya. The memory of 
the tragic consequences of mankind's collective failure to act in the 
past has helped to motivate world leaders to commit at the United 
Nations to the protection of the Libyan people against the murderous 
threats of the Qadhafi regime.
  It is also important to remember the events of 1915-1923 with honesty 
and integrity for reconciliation and healing to occur. Some have sought 
to deny that these events constituted genocide. But the devastating 
effects of the Ottoman Turkish regime's systematic engagement in the 
killing and deportation of the Armenian community cannot be denied. The 
consequences of these acts are with us today among the Armenian 
diaspora living and thriving throughout the world and in the tensions 
within the Caucasus region. The costs of these violent acts to the 
victims and the survivors must not be discounted through denial.
  These acts were not committed by the present day Republic of Turkey. 
Over the last few years, Armenia and Turkey have engaged in an 
important dialogue on normalizing relations. This process has 
unfortunately stalled, and should be reinvigorated to remove barriers 
and promote reconciliation between the two countries. In addition, 
Turkey, as a NATO ally, has played an important role in the enforcement 
of the U.N. resolutions regarding Libya and the protection of the 
Libyan people from brutal attacks by the Qadhafi regime.
  So in honor of the 97th anniversary of Armenian Genocide Remembrance 
Day, let us rededicate ourselves to the prevention of mass atrocities 
and the principles of justice and understanding, which are essential 
for the promotion of human dignity.

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