[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15951-15952]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, at a time when we are witnessing the 
devastating consequences of ethnic and sectarian division in places 
such as Iraq and Darfur, I believe it is vital to recognize the efforts 
of those who work to promote peace and reconciliation. In that spirit, 
I wish to commend the 53 Nobel laureates who signed an appeal by the 
Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity in support of ``tolerance, contact 
and cooperation between Turks and Armenians.''
  In their appeal, the laureates call on both Turks and Armenians to 
take the steps necessary to open the Turkish-Armenian border, generate 
confidence through civil society cooperation, improve official 
contacts, and allow basic freedoms. As part of this commitment, the 
laureates call on Turkey to end all forms of discrimination against 
ethnic and religious minorities and abolish Article 301 of the Turkish 
Penal Code. This provision has been used to take legal action against 
those who speak out about the Armenian genocide, including Nobel 
laureate Orhan Pamuk and recently murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist 
Hrant Dink. There is no question that article 301 contributed to the 
toxic political environment that led up to Mr. Dink's assassination in 
January.
  The laureates also note that ``Turks and Armenians have a huge gap in 
perceptions over the Armenian Genocide.'' To address this chasm of 
understanding, they call for further study and dissemination of a 
report prepared by the International Center for Transitional Justice. 
That impartial analysis of the massacres perpetrated against Armenians 
in the early 20th century concluded that the killings ``can be said to 
include all the elements of the crime of genocide . . .'' This finding 
was corroborated by the International Association of Genocide Scholars, 
which issued its own statement in 1997 to reaffirm ``that the mass 
murder of Armenians in Turkey in 1915 is a case of genocide which 
conforms to the statutes of the United Nations Convention on the 
Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.'' The existence of these 
independent evaluations of the Armenian genocide and relevant 
international law should provide an opportunity for both countries to 
accept the verdict of history and move forward.
  Mr. President, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has unanimously 
passed S. Res. 65, a resolution echoing

[[Page 15952]]

many of the sentiments expressed by the laureates and honoring the life 
of Hrant Dink, a leading proponent of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation 
up until the time of his brutal murder. It is my hope that the full 
Senate will adopt this important measure without further delay.
  I congratulate the Wiesel Foundation for its work to produce this 
important statement and request consent that it be printed in the 
Record. I hope that the words of these Nobel laureates will encourage 
the people of both nations to recognize and ultimately transcend the 
legacy of the Armenian genocide. Once this occurs, I have every 
confidence that the people of Armenia and Turkey will be able to 
rebuild the ties between their countries and forge a new, enduring 
peace.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                   The Elie Wiesel


                                      Foundation for Humanity,

                                      New York, NY, April 9, 2007.
       Dear Friends: We, the undersigned Nobel laureates, issue 
     this appeal directly to the peoples of Turkey and Armenia. 
     Mindful of the sacrifice paid by Hrant Dink, the ethnic 
     Armenian editor of Agos in Turkey, who was assassinated on 
     January 19, 2007, and whose death was mourned by both Turks 
     and Armenians, we believe that the best way to pay tribute to 
     Mr. Dink is through service to his life's work safeguarding 
     freedom of expression and fostering reconciliation between 
     Turks and Armenians.
       To these ends, Armenians and Turks should encourage their 
     governments to:
       Open the Turkish-Armenian border. An open border would 
     greatly improve the economic conditions for communities on 
     both sides of the border and enable human interaction, which 
     is essential for mutual understanding. Treaties between the 
     two countries recognize existing borders and call for 
     unhampered travel and trade.
       Generate confidence through civil society cooperation. 
     Turks and Armenians have been working since 2001 on practical 
     projects that offer great promise in creatively and 
     constructively dealing with shared problems. The governments 
     should support such efforts by, for example, sponsoring 
     academic links between Turkish and Armenian faculty, as well 
     as student exchanges.
       Improve official contacts. Civil society initiatives would 
     be enhanced by the governments' decision to accelerate their 
     bilateral contacts, devise new frameworks for consultation, 
     and consolidate relations through additional treaty 
     arrangements and full diplomatic relations.
       Allow basic freedoms. Turkey should end discrimination 
     against ethnic and religious minorities and abolish Article 
     301 of the Penal Code, which makes it a criminal offense to 
     denigrate Turkishness. Armenia also should reverse its own 
     authoritarian course, allow free and fair elections, and 
     respect human rights.
       Turks and Armenians have a huge gap in perceptions over the 
     Armenian Genocide. To address this gap, we refer to the 2003 
     ``Legal Analysis on the Applicability of the United Nations 
     Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of 
     Genocide to Events which Occurred During the Early Twentieth 
     Century,'' which corroborated findings of the International 
     Association of Genocide Scholars.
       It concluded that, ``At least some of the [Ottoman] 
     perpetrators knew that the consequences of their actions 
     would be the destruction, in whole or in part, of the 
     Armenians of eastern Anatolia, as such, or acted purposefully 
     towards this goal and, therefore, possessed the requisite 
     genocidal intent. The Events can thus be said to include all 
     the elements of the crime of genocide as defined in the 
     Convention.'' It also concluded that, ``The Genocide 
     Convention contains no provision mandating its retroactive 
     application.''
       The analysis offers a way forward, which addresses the core 
     concerns of both Armenians and Turks. Of course, coming to 
     terms will be painful and difficult. Progress will not occur 
     right away. Rather than leaving governments to their own 
     devices, affected peoples and the leaders of civil society 
     need to engage in activities that promote understanding and 
     reconciliation while, at the same time, urging their 
     governments to chart a course towards a brighter future.
           Sincerely,
       Peter Agre, Nobel Prize, Chemistry (2003).
       Sidney Altman, Nobel Prize, Chemistry (1989).
       Philip W. Anderson, Nobel Prize, Physics (1977).
       Kenneth J. Arrow, Nobel Prize, Economics (1972).
       Richard Axel, Nobel Prize, Medicine (2004).
       Baruj Benacerraf, Nobel Prize, Medicine (1980).
       Gunter Blobel, Nobel Prize, Medicine (1999).
       Georges Charpak, Nobel Prize, Physics (1992).
       Steven Chu, Nobel Prize, Physics (1997).
       J.M. Coetzee, Nobel Prize, Literature (2003).
       Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Nobel Prize, Physics (1997).
       Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Prize, Peace (1976).
       Robert F. Curl Jr., Nobel Prize, Chemistry (1996).
       Paul J. Crutzen, Nobel Prize, Chemistry (1995).
       Frederik W. de Klerk, Nobel Prize, Peace (1993).
       Johann Deisenhofer, Nobel Prize, Chemistry (1998).
       John B. Fenn, Nobel Prize, Chemistry (2002).
       Val Fitch, Nobel Prize, Physics (1980).
       Jerome I. Friedman, Nobel Prize, Physics (1990).
       Donald A. Glaser, Nobel Prize, Physics (1960).
       Sheldon Glashow, Nobel Prize, Physics (1979).
       Roy J. Glauber, Nobel Prize, Physics (2005).
       Clive W.J. Granger, Nobel Prize, Economics (2003).
       Paul Greengard, Nobel Prize, Medicine (2000).
       David J. Gross, Nobel Prize, Physics (2004).
       Roger Guillemin, Nobel Prize, Medicine (1977).
       Dudley R. Herschbach, Nobel Prize, Chemistry (1986).
       Avram Hershko, Nobel Prize, Chemistry (2004).
       Roald Hoffman, Nobel Prize, Chemistry (1981).
       Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize, Economics (2002).
       Eric R. Kandel, Nobel Prize, Medicine (2000).
       Aaron Klug, Nobel Prize, Chemistry (1982).
       Edwin G. Krebs, Nobel Prize, Medicine (1992).
       Sir Harold W. Kroto, Nobel Prize, Chemistry (1996).
       Finn E. Kydland, Nobel Prize, Economics (2004).
       Leon M. Lederman, Nobel Prize, Physics (1988).
       Anthony J. Leggett, Nobel Prize, Physics (2003).
       Rudolph A. Marcus, Nobel Prize, Chemistry (1992).
       Daniel L. McFadden, Nobel Prize, Economics (2000).
       Craig C. Mello, Nobel Prize, Medicine (2006).
       Robert C. Merton, Nobel Prize, Economics (1997).
       Marshall W. Nirenberg, Nobel Prize, Medicine (1968).
       Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel Prize, Medicine (2001).
       Douglas D. Osheroff, Nobel Prize, Physics (1996).
       Martin L. Perl, Nobel Prize, Physics (1995).
       John C. Polanyi, Nobel Prize, Chemistry (1986).
       Stanley Prusiner, Nobel Prize, Medicine (1997).
       Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Prize, Peace (1996).
       Richard J. Roberts, Nobel Prize, Medicine (1993).
       Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize, Literature (1986).
       Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize, Peace (1986).
       Betty Williams, Nobel Prize, Peace (1976).
       Kurt Wuthrich, Nobel Prize, Chemistry (2002).

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