[Congressional Record: April 16, 2007 (Senate)]
[Page S4474-S4475]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr16ap07-100]
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I take this opportunity today to solemnly
commemorate the 92nd Anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
The Armenian genocide was the first genocide of the 20th century.
From 1915 until 1923, 1.5 million Armenians were brutally killed by the
Ottoman Turks in a systematic effort to eradicate the Armenian people.
There were unbearable acts of torture; men were separated from their
families and murdered; women and children were put on a forced march
across the Syrian desert without food or water.
Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1913
to 1916, recalled:
When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these
deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a
whole race; they understood this well, and, in their
conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to
conceal the fact . . . I am confident that the whole history
of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this.
The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost
insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the Armenian
race in 1915.
However, we were to witness other such horrible genocides later,
including the Holocaust and the genocide in Darfur, which is happening
today.
As with later genocides, some have tried to deny that the Armenian
genocide happened. Shamefully, the Government of Turkey still refuses
to admit that genocide occurred.
In order for democracy and human rights to flourish, we must not
support efforts to rewrite and deny history. In the United States, we
strive to make human rights a fundamental component of our democracy.
It is long overdue for our nation to demand that the truth be told. We
must recognize the Armenian genocide in the name of democracy, fairness
and human rights.
At the beginning of the 21st century, as genocide is waged in Darfur,
it is
[[Page S4475]]
even more critical to recognize the first genocide of the 20th Century.
We must send a message that genocide and genocide denial will never be
tolerated.
To that end, I am proud to be an original cosponsor of Senator
Richard Durbin’s S. Res. 106, calling on the President to accurately
characterize the Armenian Genocide in his annual message around April
24 and to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects
appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to
human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United
States record relating to the Armenian genocide.
It is important that we recognize the Armenian genocide while its
survivors are still with us to tell their stories. We must recognize
the genocide for the survivors. We must recognize the genocide because
it is the right thing to do. We must recognize the Armenian genocide to
help shed light on the darkness and move toward a more humane world.
____________________