[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 71 (Tuesday, April 23, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E383-E384]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      COMMEMORATING THE 109TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 23, 2024

  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, 109 years ago, the Ottoman Empire began a 
concerted and systemic effort to destroy the Armenian people, Armenians 
from all walks of life, including writers, doctors, and teachers, were 
rounded up and brutally murdered, clergy were tortured and burned alive 
in churches, women and girls were brutalized, raped and killed, sons 
and daughters witnessed their fathers being murdered, and children and 
the elderly died of exhaustion and starvation on a forced march to Deir 
ez-Zor. 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children, entire families, 
were wiped out in an act of mass premeditated murder.
  The facts of the genocide are horrific and undisputed by historians. 
They were recorded by American diplomats serving in the Ottoman Empire 
at the time who bore witness in official cables to the annihilation of 
the Armenian population. The U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at 
the time, Henry Morgenthau, described it as a ``campaign of race 
extermination.'' It was the first genocide of the 20th Century--a term 
coined by Raphael Lempkin partly in response to this barbarity.
  Despite overwhelming and ever-increasing evidence of this methodical 
mass killing. Turkey has long engaged in a dangerous campaign to deny 
the genocide and to silence anyone who seeks to speak the truth.
  I have sat down with survivors. I have been welcomed into their 
homes. I have listened to their stories of how their parents, aunts and 
uncles were murdered, how their property and the lives that their 
families built were destroyed. I have watched them relive the pain over 
and over, reopening the wound to keep the history of their families 
alive.
  The United States will no longer stand in dishonorable silence. In 
2019, the U.S. House passed my resolution officially recognizing the 
Armenian Genocide by a near unanimous and bipartisan margin. That same 
year, the U.S. Senate also passed a resolution affirming the facts of 
the Armenian Genocide. And in 2021, President 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 community and diaspora, and decades of work. It's a 
testament to the efforts of thousands of activists, organizations, 
communities, and faith leaders. It's a victory for human rights and for 
truth itself, and it's something that we achieved working together.
  But we know there remains so much important work to do. These wounds 
are still open, they have not fully healed and in tragic ways, some 
grow even larger.
  To this day, President Aliyev of Azerbaijan echoes the genocidal 
language and actions of more than a century ago with the support of 
Turkey. Beginning on September 27, 2020, and over 44 days, Azerbaijani 
forces invaded and murdered innocent Armenians in Artsakh and displaced 
tens of thousands more. They continued to terrorize the people of 
Artsakh in subsequent military attacks, and by blocking the Lachin 
corridor, leaving 120,000 ethnic Armenian people without access to 
food, water, medical supplies and services, gas, and electricity for 
over 9 months. And then in 2023, the Aliyev regime took full advantage 
of a people they had systematically starved to ethnically cleanse 
Artsakh's indigenous Armenian population from their land.
  As we mark the 109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide with 
pledges of `'never again.'' the democratic and peaceful Armenian people 
face threats like never before. There is real and growing concern that 
Aliyev has his eyes set on land beyond Artsakh. To this day, 
Azerbaijani forces remain present on sovereign Armenian land, in 
violation of Armenia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
  Though the United States and international partners have condemned 
Azerbaijan's aggression and military assault against Armenians, the 
time for strong statements alone has clearly long passed. Condemnation 
must be followed by real meaningful consequences. The United States 
must hold Azerbaijan and its leadership accountable. Crimes against 
humanity cannot be ignored and cannot go unanswered.
  The United States must suspend military assistance to Azerbaijan, 
impose Global Magnitsky Act sanctions on Azerbaijani officials 
complicit in war crimes and other gross human rights violations, call 
for Azerbaijan's release of Armenian prisoners of war, hostages, 
leaders of Artsakh, and other illegally detained persons, and urge the 
immediate withdrawal of Azerbaijani forces from the sovereign territory 
of the Republic of Armenia. Further, we must provide robust 
humanitarian assistance to Armenia and the Armenian people, advocate 
for the right of displaced persons and refugees to return to their 
homes in Artsakh, with a commitment to safeguarding their individual 
and collective property rights. Finally. we must also call attention to 
the destruction and desecration of Armenian religious and cultural 
sites by Azerbaijan and urge their safeguarding and preservation.
  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 and around the 
world, speak the beautiful Armenian language, and enrich our nation 
with the Armenian culture and heritage Armenians refused to let the 
Genocide define their lives or to limit their future potential. 
Instead, they showed the world that Armenians could face the future 
with courage, knowing that they have already overcome the worst 
atrocities of the past.
  Despite the struggles the Armenian people have faced and continue to 
face, it has not broken their faith, determination, or their will to 
press on. They have overcome the harshest of trials, and yet, they 
remain strong and unbowed, in Los Angeles, in Yerevan, and around the 
world. I will always stand with the Armenian community.

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