[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 61 (Monday, April 27, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    IN RECOGNITION OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

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                         HON. STEPHEN F. LYNCH

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 27, 2015

  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I rise to join with Armenians throughout the 
United States, Armenia, and the world in commemorating the 100th 
anniversary of the Armenian genocide. This past week, members and 
friends of the Armenian community gathered to remember April 24, 1915, 
when the arrest and murder of 200 Armenian politicians, academics, and 
community leaders in Constantinople marked the beginning of an eight-
year campaign of extermination against the Armenian people by the 
Ottoman Empire.
  Between 1915 and 1923, approximately 1.5 million Armenians were 
killed and over 500,000 more were exiled to the desert to die of thirst 
or starvation. The Armenian genocide was the first mass murder of the 
20th century, a century that was sadly to be marked by many similar 
attempts at racial or ethnic extermination, from the Holocaust to the 
Rwandan genocide to Darfur, Sudan.
  As we solemnly remember the victims of this tragedy, let us also 
celebrate the extraordinary strength and spirit of the Armenian people, 
who have fought successfully to preserve their culture and identity for 
over a thousand years. They overcame the horrors of genocide, two world 
wars, and decades of Soviet dominance in order to establish modern 
Armenia. In addition, the vibrant Armenian diaspora continues to thrive 
and around the world.
  It is only by acknowledging and learning from the past that we can 
build a future free of racial, ethnic, and religious hate and violence. 
By remembering the Armenian genocide and speaking out against all such 
atrocities, we can live up to the promise made to all those who 
suffered of ``never again.''

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