[Congressional Record: April 26, 2004 (Extensions)]
[Page E645-E646]
>From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr26ap04-12]
COMMEMORATING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
______
HON. CALVIN M. DOOLEY
of california
in the house of representatives
Monday, April 26, 2004
Mr. DOOLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my
colleagues in remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.
[[Page E646]]
This terrible human tragedy must not be forgotten. Like the
Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide stands as a tragic example of the
human suffering that results from hatred and intolerance.
The Ottoman Turkish Empire between 1915 and 1923 massacred one and a
half million Armenian people. More than 500,000 Armenians were exiled
from a homeland that their ancestors had occupied for more than 3,000
years. A race of people was nearly eliminated.
It would be an even greater tragedy to forget that the Armenian
Genocide ever happened. To not recognize the horror of such events
almost assures their repetition in the future. Adolf Hitler, in
preparing his genocide plans for the Jews, predicted that no one would
remember the atrocities he was about to unleash. After all, he asked,
“Who remembers the Armenians?”
Our statements today are intended to preserve the memory of the
Armenian loss, and to remind the world that the Turkish government–to
this day–refuses to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. The truth of
this tragedy can never and should never be denied.
And we must also be mindful of the current suffering of the Armenian,
where the Armenian people are still immersed in tragedy and violence.
The unrest between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues in Nagorno-
Karabakh. Thousands of innocent people have already perished in this
dispute, and many more have been displaced and are homeless.
In the face of this difficult situation we have an opportunity for
reconciliation. Now is the time for Armenia and its neighbors to come
together and work toward building relationships that will assure
lasting peace.
Meanwhile, in America, the Armenian-American community continues to
thrive and to provide assistance and solidarity to its countrymen and
women abroad. The Armenian-American community is bound together by
strong generational and family ties, an enduring work ethic and a proud
sense of ethnic heritage. Today we recall the tragedy of their past,
not to replace blame, but to answer a fundamental question, “Who
remembers the Armenians?”
Our commemoration of the Armenian Genocide speaks directly to that,
and I answer, we do.