[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 7327]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               89TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, this year I once again come before the 
Senate to pay tribute to those who lost their lives or were forced from 
their homeland as a result of the horrific genocide perpetrated against 
the Armenian people from 1915 through 1923. During those years, the 
Turkish Ottoman government used the outbreak of World War I as a 
pretext for subjecting its citizens of Armenian descent to deportation, 
abduction, torture, massacre, and starvation. The land on which some of 
the Armenians had lived for generations was expropriated from them. It 
is imperative for the American people and for people around the world 
to commemorate this tragedy, with the hope that by remembrance we will 
advance the day when the world will no longer witness such horrors.
  Over one million Armenians perished as part of a deliberate campaign 
of murder in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. Armenians, given 
that they were neither Turks nor Muslims, were treated as threats, even 
though the Armenians had been exemplary citizens and had lived together 
peaceably with their Turkish neighbors for centuries. April 24th is the 
date chosen to commemorate this genocide, since it was on that day in 
1915 that government leaders rounded up 300 Armenian leaders, writers, 
thinkers and professionals for their deportation and for many, their 
deaths. While the preeminent members of the Constantinople's Armenian 
community were being rounded up on that day, 5,000 others were 
slaughtered in their homes and on the streets.
  Many Western, democratic nations became aware of the ruthless 
targeting of the Armenian population yet did not act to stop it. In May 
1915, Great Britain, France, and Russia advised the Turkish leaders 
that they would be held personally responsible for this crime against 
humanity. Later that year, Henry Morgenthau, the American Ambassador to 
the Ottoman Empire, cabled the State Department saying, ``Deportation 
of and excesses against peaceful Armenians is increasing and from 
harrowing reports of eye witnesses it appears that a campaign of race 
extermination is in progress under a pretext of reprisal against 
rebellion.'' His successor, Abram Elkus, wrote in 1816 that, ``. . . 
unchecked policy of extermination through starvation, exhaustion, and 
brutality of treatment hardly surpassed even in Turkish history.''
  In addition to the government records decrying the events in the 
Ottoman Empire, historians have been able to record the memories of the 
victims. It is important to share these stories, to ensure that the 
subsequent generations can truly understand the appalling conditions 
under which their ancestors both perished and survived. The Genocide 
Project, an effort by the San Francisco Bay Area Armenian National 
Committee, has done a remarkable job of compiling oral and visual 
documentation from some of the survivors.
  Edward Racoubian told the project how when, ``We reached the 
Euphrates River and despite the hundreds of bodies floating in it, we 
drank from it like there was no tomorrow. We quenched our thirst for 
the first time since our departure. . . . Of a caravan of nearly 10,000 
people, there were now only some 300 of us left. My aunt, my sisters, 
my brothers had all died or disappeared. Only my mother and I were 
left. We decided to hide and take refuge with some Arab nomads. My 
mother died there under their tents. They did not treat me well--they 
kept me hungry and beat me often and they branded me as their own.''
  ``Sometime later, Turkish gendarmes came over and grabbed all the 
boys from 5 to 10 years old. I was about 7 or 8. They grabbed me too,'' 
Sam Kadorian said. ``They threw us all into a pile on the sandy beach 
and started jabbing us with their swords and bayonets. I must've been 
in the center because only one sword got me . . . nipped my cheek . . . 
here, my cheek. But, I couldn't cry. I was covered with blood from the 
other bodies on top of me, but I couldn't cry. If had, I would not be 
here today.''
  I believe the highest tribute we can pay to the victims of a genocide 
is by acknowledging the horrors they faced and reaffirming our 
commitment to fight against such heinous acts in the future.
  In commemorating the tragedy of the genocide today, I would also like 
to recognize the fact that yesterday Canada's House of Commons, took 
the courageous step of officially recognizing that the events initiated 
on April 24, 1915, were in fact a genocide and crime against humanity. 
It is my hope that all people of goodwill will join in calling this 
tragedy by its correct name--a genocide. I hope that our colleagues 
will join me in commemorating this tragedy and vowing to honor and 
remember the innocent victims of the Armenian genocide.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleagues, my fellow 
Rhode Islanders, and our Armenian American community to observe the 
89th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
  At this time, it is fitting that we reflect on this tragic event in 
order to ensure that future generations remember and learn from the 
pain and suffering of those who came before us.
  The Armenian Genocide was a demonstration of evil. From its genesis 
on April 24, 1915, through the end of 1923, nearly one and a half 
million Armenians were killed and over a half a million survivors 
exiled.
  All the while, the United States Government, too busy trying to 
defeat the Austro-German alliance and attempting to stay out of a war 
in Europe, ignored these atrocities. The United States Ambassador to 
Turkey, Henry Morgenthau, Sr., attempted to bring the tragic string of 
events to a climax, pleading with both President Wilson and Secretary 
of State Robert Lansing to get involved. Former President Theodore 
Roosevelt, frustrated by a lack of response from his own government, 
petitioned President Wilson on 24 November 1915, saying ``Until we put 
honor and duty first, and are willing to risk something in order to 
achieve righteousness both for ourselves and for others, we shall 
accomplish nothing; and we shall earn and deserve the contempt of the 
strong nations of mankind.''
  Unfortunately, the Armenian genocide was only the first of several 
20th century tragedies--the Nazi extermination of the Jews and others 
during the Second World War; Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge's slaughter of 
nearly two million Cambodians in the mid-1970s; the Hutu massacre of 
the Tutsis in Rwanda in the summer of 1993; and, at the same time, the 
Serbian annihilation of Bosnian Muslims in Bosnia from 1993 to 1995.
  Thus, as we reflect on this atrocity, let us call for our own country 
to recognize the Armenian Genocide, just as my own State of Rhode 
Island has done, and as the parliaments of Belgium, Canada, Cypress, 
France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Russia, and Sweden have done over the 
past 6 years. Let us also pledge never to ignore atrocities by those 
who claim the legitimacy of government. We must never ignore and we 
will never forget.

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