[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6384]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

  (Mr. COSTA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, April 24 marked the 95th anniversary of the 
Armenian genocide. Last Saturday I participated with the Armenian 
community in Fresno to commemorate this horrific tragedy.
  I, once again, call upon this body to pass the Armenian genocide 
resolution. In my remarks before the Foreign Affairs Committee markup 
of House Resolution 252, I indicated that historians have clearly 
documented this event. Back home, as I grew up, my Armenian friends 
told me of the stories of the systematic approach to eliminate the 
Armenian communities from their farms, their homes, and their lives. It 
was the first genocide of the 20th Century. They believe it and so do 
I.
  Theodore Roosevelt once wrote: ``The Armenian massacre was the 
greatest crime of World War I, and the failure to act against Turkey is 
to condone it.''
  No one holds modern-day Turkey responsible for the past sins of the 
Ottoman Empire, but they should recognize their history, apologize, and 
move on to establish diplomatic relationships with Armenia.
  There is never a right time to recognize the genocide. We cannot wait 
around for a convenient time. I urge we pass this resolution.

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