[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 69 (Monday, April 24, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2495-S2496]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 136--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE 
               102ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Markey, and Mr. Udall) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 136

       Whereas the Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out 
     by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulting in the 
     deportation of nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of

[[Page S2496]]

     whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed and 
     500,000 survivors were expelled from their homes, and the 
     elimination of the over 2,500-year presence of Armenians in 
     their historic homeland;
       Whereas, on May 24, 1915, the Allied Powers of England, 
     France, and Russia jointly issued a statement explicitly 
     charging for the first time ever another government of 
     committing crimes ``against humanity and civilization'';
       Whereas Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term ``genocide'', 
     and whose draft resolution for a genocide convention treaty 
     became the framework for the United Nations Convention on the 
     Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 
     recognized the Armenian Genocide as the type of crime the 
     United Nations should prevent and punish through the setting 
     of international standards;
       Whereas Senate Concurrent Resolution 12, 64th Congress, 
     agreed to February 9, 1916, resolved that ``the President of 
     the United States be respectfully asked to designate a day on 
     which the citizens of this country may give expression to 
     their sympathy by contributing funds now being raised for the 
     relief of the Armenians,'' who at the time were enduring 
     ``starvation, disease, and untold suffering'';
       Whereas Senate Resolution 359, 66th Congress, agreed to May 
     11, 1920, stated that ``the testimony adduced at the hearings 
     conducted by the subcommittee of the Senate Committee on 
     Foreign Relations have clearly established the truth of the 
     reported massacres and other atrocities from which the 
     Armenian people have suffered'';
       Whereas House Joint Resolution 148, 94th Congress, agreed 
     to April 8, 1975, resolved, ``That April 24, 1975, is hereby 
     designated as `National Day of Remembrance of Man's 
     Inhumanity to Man', and the President of the United States is 
     authorized and requested to issue a proclamation calling upon 
     the people of the United States to observe such day as a day 
     of remembrance for all the victims of genocide, especially 
     those of Armenian ancestry . . .'';
       Whereas House Joint Resolution 247, 98th Congress, agreed 
     to September 10, 1984, resolved, ``That April 24, 1985, is 
     hereby designated as `National Day of Remembrance of Man's 
     Inhumanity to Man', and the President of the United States is 
     authorized and requested to issue a proclamation calling upon 
     the people of the United States to observe such day as a day 
     of remembrance for all the victims of genocide, especially 
     the one and one-half million people of Armenian ancestry . . 
     .'';
       Whereas, on April 11, 2014, the Committee on Foreign 
     Relations of the Senate reported favorably Senate Resolution 
     410, 113th Congress, expressing the sense of the Senate 
     regarding the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, and 
     calling on the President to ``ensure that the foreign policy 
     of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and 
     sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights crimes 
     against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented 
     in the United States record relating to the Armenian 
     Genocide'';
       Whereas, on April 12, 2015, Pope Francis described the 
     atrocities perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks against the 
     Armenians as the first genocide of the 20th century;
       Whereas the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, an 
     independent Federal agency, unanimously resolved on April 30, 
     1981, that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum would 
     document the Armenian Genocide in the Museum, and has done so 
     through a public examination of the historic record, 
     including lectures and the maintenance of books, records, and 
     photographs about the Genocide;
       Whereas the Government of the Republic of Turkey has 
     continued its international campaign of Armenian Genocide 
     denial, maintained a blockade of Armenia, and continues to 
     pressure the small but growing Turkish civil society movement 
     for acknowledging the Armenian Genocide;
       Whereas, in April 2011, the month of remembrance of the 
     Armenian Genocide, the Government of the Republic of Turkey 
     demolished a 100-foot-high statue in the city of Kars which 
     was erected to promote reconciliation with Armenia;
       Whereas, on April 22, 2016, on the occasion of Armenian 
     Remembrance Day, President Barack Obama referred to the 
     events of April 1915 as ``the first mass atrocity of the 20th 
     Century'' and further called for ``a full, frank, and just 
     acknowledgment of the facts'';
       Whereas the German Bundestag in June 2016, and Danish 
     Parliament, in January 2017, passed Armenian genocide 
     resolutions, thereby joining a growing list of legislatures 
     from a wide number of countries who recognize the Armenian 
     genocide as such;
       Whereas the denial of the Armenian Genocide by the 
     Government of the Republic of Turkey has prevented the 
     meaningful advancement of a constructive political, economic, 
     and security relationship between Armenia and Turkey; and
       Whereas the teaching, recognition, and commemoration of 
     acts of genocide and other crimes against humanity is 
     essential to preventing the reoccurrence of similar 
     atrocities: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate--
       (1) to remember and commemorate the 102th anniversary of 
     the Armenian Genocide on April 24, 2017;
       (2) that the President should work toward an equitable, 
     constructive, stable, and durable Armenian-Turkish 
     relationship that includes the full acknowledgment by the 
     Government of the Republic of Turkey of the facts about the 
     Armenian Genocide; and
       (3) that the President should ensure that the foreign 
     policy of the United States reflects appropriate 
     understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to 
     human rights, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and 
     genocide documented in the United States record relating to 
     the Armenian Genocide.

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