[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 18, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H3432]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          CAPITOL HILL COMMEMORATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  (Mr. SMITH of New Jersey asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, next week, on April 24, we will 
mark the 103rd anniversary of the infamous Armenian genocide. The date 
of the commemoration marks the anniversary of Red Sunday, the night 
when the Ottoman Empire Government gave the order to arrest and intern 
approximately 250 Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul.
  Less than 2 months after Red Sunday, the end of May 1915, the 
government enacted legislation that unleashed unspeakable widespread 
government-organized evictions, massacres, and deportations. As many as 
1.5 million people perished. It was about the annihilation of the 
Armenian people.
  In September of 2000, I held the first-ever hearing on the Armenian 
genocide here in Congress. Three years ago this month, I chaired 
another hearing on the 100th anniversary.
  At the time, I noted that the Armenian genocide is the only one of 
the genocides of the 20th century in which the nation that was 
decimated by genocide has been subjected to ongoing outrage of a 
massive campaign of genocidal denial, openly sustained by state 
authority--that would be the Turkish Government. That has to change, 
and this horrible, horrible genocide needs to be recognized by our 
government for what it was.

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