[Congressional Record: April 22, 2005 (Extensions)]
[Page E739]
>From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr22ap05-28]
COMMEMORATING THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
______
HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN
of california
in the house of representatives
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, this Sunday, April 24th, marks the 90th
anniversary of the beginning the Armenian Genocide. I rise today to
commemorate this terrible chapter in human history, and to help ensure
that it will never be forgotten.
On April 24, 1915, the Turkish government began to arrest Armenian
community and political leaders. Many were executed without ever being
charged with crimes. Then the government deported most Armenians from
Turkish Armenia, ordering that they resettle in what is now Syria. Many
deportees never reached that destination.
From 1915 to 1918, more than a million Armenians died of starvation
or disease on long marches, or were massacred outright by Turkish
forces. From 1918 to 1923, Armenians continued to suffer at the hands
of the Turkish military, which eventually removed all remaining
Armenians from Turkey.
We mark this anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide
because this tragedy for the Armenian people was a tragedy for all
humanity. It is our duty to remember, to speak out and to teach future
generations about the horrors of genocide and the oppression and
terrible suffering endured by the Armenian people.
We hope the day will soon come when it is not just the survivors who
honor the dead but also when those whose ancestors perpetrated the
horrors acknowledge their terrible responsibility and commemorate as
well the memory of genocide’s victims.
Sadly, we cannot say humanity has progressed to the point where
genocide has become unthinkable. We have only to recall the “killing
fields” of Cambodia, mass killings in Rwanda, “ethnic cleansing” in
Bosnia and Kosovo, and most recently, the unspeakable horrors in
Darfur, Sudan to see that the threat of genocide persists. We must
renew our commitment never to remain indifferent in the face of such
assaults on innocent human beings.
We also remember this day because it is a time for us to celebrate
the contribution of the Armenian community in America–including
hundreds of thousands in California–to the richness of our character
and culture. The strength they have displayed in overcoming tragedy to
flourish in this country is an example for all of us. Their success is
moving testimony to the truth that tyranny and evil cannot extinguish
the vitality of the human spirit.
The United States has an ongoing opportunity to contribute to a true
memorial to the past by strengthening Armenia’s emerging democracy. We
must do all we can through aid and trade to support Armenia’s efforts
to construct an open political and economic system.
Adolf Hitler, the architect of the Nazi Holocaust, once remarked
“Who remembers the Armenians?” The answer is, we do. And we will
continue to remember the victims of the 1915-23 genocide because, in
the words of the philosopher George Santayana, “Those who cannot
remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”