[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 25, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H2819-H2820]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ANNIVERSARY

  (Mr. VALADAO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. VALADAO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the anniversary 
of the Armenian genocide, a horrific event impacting many of my own 
constituents in California.
  From 1915 to 1923, the Ottoman Empire engaged in a systematic and 
organized deportation and extermination of over 2 million Armenians 
from their homeland. It is estimated that nearly 1.5 million Armenian 
men, women, and children were killed and many more permanently 
displaced or forced to flee.
  I recall one Armenian genocide remembrance ceremony outside city hall 
in Fresno, California. During the ceremony, I was given a copy of the 
event invitation, which had inscribed the words of Avetis Aharonian, an 
influential Armenian writer and poet. It read: ``If evil of this 
magnitude can be ignored, if our own children forget, then we deserve 
oblivion and earn the world's scorn.''
  The passionate and enduring advocacy of the Armenian Americans, 
especially those in California's Central Valley, is evidence that the 
descendants of those who escaped the genocide have not forgotten this 
evil or their obligation to share its lessons with the world.

[[Page H2820]]

  Like Armenians from around the world, our central California 
community has heeded Aharonian's words, accepting his call to remember.
  I am proud to have recently coauthored a bipartisan letter 
encouraging President Trump to properly recognize the Armenian 
genocide. As in years past, this year I took part in the Capitol Hill 
remembrance ceremony and supported the Armenian Caucus' screening of 
``The Promise,'' a film made possible by Fresno-native Kirk Kerkorian 
that depicts the Armenian people's will to survive.
  To the Armenian community throughout the United States, please know 
that I stand with you today and always in honoring Aharonian's words 
and never forgetting all those impacted by the Armenian genocide.

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