    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [April 24, 1998]
    [Page 617]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Message on the Observance of Armenian Remembrance Day, 1998
    April 24, 1998

        This year, as in the past, we join with Armenian-Americans
    throughout the nation in commemorating one of the saddest chapters in
    the history of this century, the deportations and massacres of a million
    and a half Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the years 1915-1923.
        This painful event from the past also serves as a powerful lesson
    for the future: that man's inhumanity to man must not be tolerated, and
    that evil cannot conquer. The Armenian people have endured, surviving
    the ravages of two World Wars and seven decades of Soviet rule.
    Throughout the world, and especially in this country, Armenians have
    contributed to the material, intellectual and spiritual lives of their
    adopted homes. Today's Armenians are building a free and independent
    nation that stands as a living tribute to all those who died.
        The United States will continue working to preserve a free Armenia
    in a peaceful, stable and prosperous Caucasus region. In that spirit, I
    extend to all Armenians my best wishes on Remembrance Day in the fervent
    hope that those who died will never be forgotten.

                                                          William J. Clinton

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