[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 7259-7260]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 COMMEMORATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise to commemorate the 84th anniversary 
of the Armenian Genocide.
  This weekend, members of Armenian communities around the world will 
gather together to remember the spring morning of April 24, 1915, when 
the Ottoman Empire and the successor Turkish nationalist regime began a 
brutal policy of deportation and murder. Over the next eight years, 1.5 
million Armenians would be massacred at the hands of the Turks and 
another 500,000 would have their property confiscated and be driven 
from their homeland.
  Despite having already undergone such terrible persecution and 
hardship, the people of the Armenian Republic

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still suffer today. The peace talks have regrettably made little 
progress toward the resolution of the Karabagh conflict. Turkey 
continues to blockade humanitarian aid to Armenia.
  However, the Armenian people look hopefully to the future. Their 
quest for peace and democracy continues to inspire people around the 
world. On May 30th, Armenia will again hold democratic elections. 
Armenians who have emigrated to other countries, especially those in my 
home state of Rhode Island, bring their traditions with them. They 
enrich the culture and contribute much to the society of their new 
homelands.
  Although each year's commemoration of the Armenian genocide is 
important, I believe this year's observance is particularly 
significant--because of the crisis in Kosovo. Each night the television 
shows images of hundreds of thousands of refugees forced from their 
homes and each morning the paper is filled with stories of innocent 
civilians robbed and killed. These stories and images are 
heartwrenching--but the people of Kosovo have not been abandoned. The 
nineteen nations of NATO are united in their resolve that another 
genocide will not be tolerated.
  One of the reasons the world could not stand idly by watching events 
unfold in the Balkans is because of commemorations like the observance 
of the Armenian Genocide. We must stand as witnesses to protect those 
who are persecuted because they are different. We must remain vigilant 
as long as hate and intolerance exist in our world.
  Menk panav chenk mornar. Thank you, Mr. President.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, each year on April 24 many of us in 
Congress pause to remember the tragedy of the Armenian Genocide. On 
that date in 1915, more than 200 Armenian religious, political and 
intellectual leaders were arrested in Constantinople--now Istanbul--and 
killed, marking the beginning of an organized campaign to eliminate the 
Armenian presence from the Ottoman Empire. This brutal campaign would 
result in the massacre of a million and a half Armenian men, women and 
children.
  Thousands of Armenians were subjected to torture, deportation, 
slavery and murder. More than 500,000 were removed from their homes and 
sent on forced death marches through the deserts of Syria. This dark 
time is among the saddest chapters in the history of man.
  But Armenians are strong people and their dream of freedom did not 
die. More than seventy years after the genocide, the new Republic of 
Armenia was born as the Soviet Union crumbled. Today, we pay tribute to 
the courage and strength of a people who would not know defeat.
  Yet, independence has not meant an end to their struggle. There are 
still those who question the reality of the Armenian slaughter. There 
are those who have failed to recognize its very existence. We must not 
allow the horror of the Armenian genocide to be either diminished or 
denied.
  Genocide is the worst of all crimes against humanity. As indications 
of genocide arise in Kosovo, it is especially important to remember 
those who lost their lives in the first genocide of this century. We 
must never forget the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

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