[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11121]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 U.N. RWANDA GENOCIDE EXHIBIT REVISION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for the remainder 
of the time until midnight.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday what was supposed to be an 
important U.N. exhibit educating the world about the Rwandan genocide 
was turned into a farce thanks to the actions of the Turkish 
Government. Three weeks ago, when the Rwanda genocide exhibit was 
originally set to open, the Turkish Government did what the Turkish 
Government often does, denied historical facts and objected to the 
exhibit because it objected to Armenian genocide as an example of 
genocide.
  It was bad enough that this important U.N. exhibit documenting the 
Rwanda genocide was delayed by 3 weeks because Turkey continued to deny 
the past, but I was appalled when the exhibit was opened yesterday at 
the U.N. with one major revision.
  Gone was the citing of the systematic killing of 1.5 millions 
Armenians as genocide. Instead it was referred to as a mass killing in 
order to appease the Turkish Government. No serious historical dispute 
exists about the Armenian genocide. Sadly, an intensive and well-
financed effort by the Turkish Government has succeeded in preventing 
the United States, and now the U.N., from any formal recognition of the 
Armenian genocide.
  This is the warped Turkish version of history, and it's simply not 
acceptable. The Turkish objection to this exhibit is the latest example 
of their genocide denial. It's absolutely ludicrous that an exhibit 
dedicated to the education and prevention of genocide would include 
Armenia as an example, use the definition of the term ``genocide,'' but 
not use the word ``genocide'' to describe the events.
  How, exactly, are you educating the public about genocide when you 
refuse to call the first genocide of the 20th century by its name? The 
word ``genocide'' was actually created as a way to describe the 
barbaric crimes inflicted against the Armenians between 1915 and 1923, 
but now the word cannot be used in an exhibit at the U.N. This is 
utterly ridiculous.
  Would you ever have an exhibit on Christianity without mentioning the 
birth of Christ? The same type of absurdity has been used by President 
Bush during his annual statement commemorating the anniversary of the 
Armenian genocide. Year after year the Bush administration continues to 
play word games by not calling evil by its proper name.
  If I could just end by saying, I don't think that the U.N. response 
to genocides should be denigrated to a level acceptable to the Turkish 
Government. It's about time that the Bush administration started 
dictating a policy for Americans, not for a foreign government like 
Turkey. This lack of honesty is simply not acceptable.
  Turkey should be condemned for its policy of denying the Armenian 
genocide. As a global community we must collectively stand for 
historical truth and properly recognize the worst humanitarian crimes 
we have seen.

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