[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 68 (Monday, April 24, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E345-E346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      COMMEMORATING THE 108TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 24, 2023

  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the lives and legacies 
of Mardiros Deovletian, Shooshan Hounanian, Azniv Totigian, Mariam 
Minasian, Hadji Martiros Temelian, Annenouhi Toutikian. These names 
represent a few, but a precious few, of the more than 1.5 million men, 
women, and children who lost their lives in the first genocide of the 
20th century.
  One hundred and eight years ago, the Ottoman Empire began a 
systematic effort to destroy the Armenian people. Teachers, writers, 
businessmen, and doctors were rounded up and killed, clergy were 
tortured and burned alive in churches, infants were ripped from their 
mothers' arms, sons and daughters witnessed their fathers being 
murdered, and children died gasping for a drop of water. Many Armenians 
were killed outright, and others, including Komitas Vartabed, 
considered the father of Armenian music, suffered emotional trauma 
after witnessing the sheer horror of the brutal massacres.
  Despite the overwhelming evidence of this methodical mass killing, 
Turkey has long engaged in a campaign to deny the genocide and to 
silence those who would speak the truth.
  But the United States will no longer be silenced. In 2019, for the 
first time in history, the U.S. House passed my resolution recognizing 
the Armenian Genocide by a near unanimous and bipartisan margin. The 
Senate too passed a resolution affirming the facts of the Armenian 
Genocide. And in 2021, President Joe Biden finally cast aside decades 
of shameful silence by our nation to become the first sitting U.S. 
president to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.
  These historic achievements happened because of a resilient and 
enduring Armenian diaspora. It's a testament to the unwavering efforts 
of thousands of activists, organizations, communities, and church 
leaders. It's a victory for human rights, and for truth itself, and 
it's something we achieved together.
  But we know there remains work to do. Our thoughts and our hearts are 
with Armenia and Artsakh, because the Armenian people are still under 
duress and attack and have suffered the losses of many who died in 
Artsakh, the thousands who were forced to flee from the unprovoked 
aggression by Azerbaijan and Turkey, and those who remain prisoners of 
war. Azerbaijan's unprovoked assaults on sovereign Armenian territory 
and the brutal blockade of Artsakh risk another genocide. We have seen 
this before, and we must not allow it to happen again.
  These are the horrific consequences when aggression and hatred grow 
unchecked and

[[Page E346]]

when Aliyev's hostility is met with deafening silence, emboldening him 
to continue, and expand, his unprovoked attacks on the Armenian people. 
This is why Azerbaijan is emboldened to believe it can annihilate 
Armenians in their historical homeland. We cannot allow violence and 
crimes against humanity to go unanswered, whether they occurred one 
hundred eight years ago or as recently as this year or even this month.
  The United States must impose sanctions on Azerbaijan, and U.S. 
support for the warmongers in Baku must stop. The United States must 
continue to pressure Aliyev to immediately reopen the Lachin corridor, 
direct U.S. humanitarian assistance to Artsakh, call for the safe and 
unconditional release of the remaining Armenian prisoners of war and 
captured civilians, hold Azerbaijan accountable for the destruction of 
religious and cultural sites, and support democracy in Armenia and a 
free, independent Artsakh.
  On this solemn anniversary, as we pause to remember the innocent 
victims of the Armenian Genocide, we also reflect on the resilience of 
those who survived, and the perseverance of their children and 
grandchildren, who built new lives in the United States, speak the 
beautiful Armenian language, and enrich our nation with the Armenian 
culture and heritage. Despite the trials the Armenian people have faced 
and continue to face, it has not broken their faith, determination, or 
their will to survive. They have overcome the harshest of trials and 
tribulations, and yet, they remain strong and unbowed, in Los Angeles, 
in Yerevan, in Artsakh and around the world.
  From marching shoulder to shoulder with the Armenian community in 
California to the halls of Congress, I will always stand with you every 
step of the way as we redouble our efforts to bring liberation to our 
Armenian brothers and sisters abroad. Although I am not a descendant of 
the fallen, on this day, as we commemorate the Armenian Genocide and 
honor the martyred saints, we are all Armenian. Whenever we speak out 
against mass murder and refuse to be intimidated into silence, we are 
all Armenian. Whenever we stand up for human rights and justice, we are 
all Armenian.

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