REP. MARKEY COMMEMORATES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
US Fed News
April 24, 2008 Thursday
Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass. (7th CD), issued the following
statement:
Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), entered the following statement
into the Congressional Record commemorating the 93rd anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide:
"Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the ninety-third
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
"In September of 1919, President Woodrow Wilson spoke of his vision
of a future Armenia. He said, ‘Armenia is to be redeemed…So that
at last this great people, struggling through night after night of
terror, knowing not when they may come out into a time when they can
enjoy their rights as free people that they never dreamed they would
be able to exercise.’
"The Armenian people finally have the ability to enjoy the rights
that President Wilson hoped they would have so many years ago, and
for that we are all thankful.
"The nights of terror that President Wilson spoke about, the Armenian
Genocide, was the first genocide of the twentieth century. It was
the opening chapter of what was arguably the most violent period
of human history. In the decades following this initial Genocide,
the world witnessed genocidal acts against the Jews and against
the Roma in World War II, and subsequently in Cambodia, Rwanda,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, and in too many wars to list here. Today, the
world is witnessing genocide yet again in Darfur.
"There is no more important way to commit ourselves to preventing
the genocides of the future than to commemorate and never forget the
genocides of the past. As such, I would like to note my continuing
support for House finally passage of H.Res. 106, the Affirmation of
the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution. In
my view, it is long past time for the United States to officially
recognize the massacre of one and a half million Armenians in early
in the twentieth century for what it undeniably was: a genocide.
"Countries all around the world have adopted similar resolutions to
ensure that the atrocities committed against the Armenian people are
properly recognized as genocide. Canada, France, Switzerland, Greece,
and Poland have passed resolutions affirming the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide. Properly recognizing the Armenian Genocide here
in America is essential to ensure that all past genocides are never
forgotten and all future atrocities are never permitted. This House
must afford the proper recognition to the Armenian Genocide. We must
do so not only because of our solemn obligation to recognize those
that were lost, but also because of our duty to those that can still
be saved.
"I yield back the balance of my time."