[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 7560]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 COMMEMORATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MARK E. SOUDER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 21, 2005

  Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember the 90th anniversary of 
the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923. We are familiar with these events. 
Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children were driven from 
their homes, starved, beaten, and shot. Government-orchestrated 
intimidation, government-sponsored deportations, and government-
perpetrated slaughter are the hallmarks of the Armenian Genocide. They 
are also the hallmarks of other genocides with which we are all too 
familiar.
  The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of its kind, but it was 
not the last. It has served as a model of the Holocaust in Europe, the 
Killing Fields of Cambodia, and religiously motivated atrocities in 
Sudan. We look regretfully and sorrowfully at the slaughter of so many 
in these cases, as well we should. These events demonstrate man's 
inherent sinfulness and the evil that comes so easily. No one denies 
the events in Europe, Asia, and Africa happened. Anyone rejecting these 
mass slaughters is themselves rejected. And yet, many suffer some kind 
of incredulity when it comes to the Armenian Genocide. We demand the 
perpetrators of these other genocides are made to account for their 
actions, but not the Armenian Genocide.
  Photographs and eye witness accounts point overwhelmingly and 
undoubtedly to the massacre of over one million human beings, but no 
one has ever been held accountable. Ninety years after these events, 
the perpetrators are no longer living. In this world, they can no 
longer be held responsible for their actions. Their heirs, however, 
should be made to acknowledge the deeds of their fathers. But they are 
not.
  Modern Turkey has made Armenian Genocide denial into an article of 
faith. Genocide denial is taught in schools, and is supported by the 
government. Anyone who deviates from the official line is considered a 
traitor. Indeed, the government of Turkey works feverishly to prevent 
any government from recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Recognition by 
the legislative bodies of France, Italy, Switzerland, and Russia has 
been met with harsh criticism from the Turkish government.
  In 2000, only intense lobbying and ruthless pressure from Turkey 
prevented this House from recognizing the Armenian Genocide. It is 
shameful that the United States House of Representatives refuses to 
reaffirm the Armenian Genocide. Official American records on the 
Armenian Genocide are considered to be the most extensive in the world, 
and yet we refuse to reaffirm what already has been acknowledged to be 
the first genocide of the Twentieth Century. In past eras, American 
officials, including US Ambassador Henry Morgenthau and President 
Ronald Reagan, boldly declared the savage butchery in eastern Anatolia 
and the Caucuses to be genocide.
  By allowing Turkey to deny its past actions, we take a step 
backwards. By not reaffirming the events of ninety years ago, we do not 
live up to the ideals of our country. I reaffirm the Armenian Genocide 
in the House of Representatives. I know that it happened. I remember.

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