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[Congressional Record: April 27, 2005 (Extensions)]
[Page E780]
>From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr27ap05-17]
90TH COMMEMORATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
______
speech of
HON. STEPHEN F. LYNCH
of massachusetts
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join with Armenians
throughout the United States, Armenia, and the world in commemorating
the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, one of the darkest
episodes in Europe's recent past. This week, members and friends of the
Armenian community gather to remember April 24, 1915, when the arrest
and murder of 200 Armenian politicians, academics, and community
leaders in Constantinople marked the beginning of an 8-year campaign of
extermination against the Armenian people by the Ottoman Empire.
Between 1915 and 1923, approximately 1.5 million Armenians were
killed and more than 500,000 were exiled to the desert to die of thirst
or starvation. The Armenian genocide was the first mass murder of the
20th century, a century that was sadly to be marked by many similar
attempts at racial or ethnic extermination, from the Holocaust to the
Rwandan genocide and now the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
In the 90 years since the beginning of this genocide, we have learned
the importance of commemorating these tragic events. In 1939, after
invading Poland and relocating most Jews to labor or death camps,
Hitler cynically defended his own actions by asking, ``Who remembers
the Armenians?'' Just a few years later, 6 million Jews were dead. Now
is the time when we must answer Hitler's question with a clear voice:
We remember the Armenians, and we stand resolved that genocide is a
crime against all humanity. We must remember the legacy of the Armenian
genocide and we must speak out against such tragedies to ensure that no
similar evil occurs again.
While today is the day in which we solemnly remember the victims of
the Armenian genocide, I believe it is also a day in which we can
celebrate the extraordinary vitality and strength of the Armenian
people, who have fought successfully to preserve their culture and
identity for over a thousand years. The Armenian people withstood the
horrors of genocide, two world wars, and several decades of Soviet
dominance in order to establish modern Armenia. Armenia has defiantly
rebuilt itself as a nation and a society--a triumph of human spirit in
the face of overwhelming adversity.
It is my firm belief that it is only by learning from and
commemorating the past can we work toward a future free from racial,
ethnic, and religious hate. By acknowledging the Armenian genocide and
speaking out against the principles by which it was conducted, we can
send a clear message: never again.
[Congressional Record: April 27, 2005 (Extensions)]
[Page E780]
>From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr27ap05-17]
90TH COMMEMORATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
______
speech of
HON. STEPHEN F. LYNCH
of massachusetts
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join with Armenians
throughout the United States, Armenia, and the world in commemorating
the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, one of the darkest
episodes in Europe's recent past. This week, members and friends of the
Armenian community gather to remember April 24, 1915, when the arrest
and murder of 200 Armenian politicians, academics, and community
leaders in Constantinople marked the beginning of an 8-year campaign of
extermination against the Armenian people by the Ottoman Empire.
Between 1915 and 1923, approximately 1.5 million Armenians were
killed and more than 500,000 were exiled to the desert to die of thirst
or starvation. The Armenian genocide was the first mass murder of the
20th century, a century that was sadly to be marked by many similar
attempts at racial or ethnic extermination, from the Holocaust to the
Rwandan genocide and now the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
In the 90 years since the beginning of this genocide, we have learned
the importance of commemorating these tragic events. In 1939, after
invading Poland and relocating most Jews to labor or death camps,
Hitler cynically defended his own actions by asking, ``Who remembers
the Armenians?'' Just a few years later, 6 million Jews were dead. Now
is the time when we must answer Hitler's question with a clear voice:
We remember the Armenians, and we stand resolved that genocide is a
crime against all humanity. We must remember the legacy of the Armenian
genocide and we must speak out against such tragedies to ensure that no
similar evil occurs again.
While today is the day in which we solemnly remember the victims of
the Armenian genocide, I believe it is also a day in which we can
celebrate the extraordinary vitality and strength of the Armenian
people, who have fought successfully to preserve their culture and
identity for over a thousand years. The Armenian people withstood the
horrors of genocide, two world wars, and several decades of Soviet
dominance in order to establish modern Armenia. Armenia has defiantly
rebuilt itself as a nation and a society--a triumph of human spirit in
the face of overwhelming adversity.
It is my firm belief that it is only by learning from and
commemorating the past can we work toward a future free from racial,
ethnic, and religious hate. By acknowledging the Armenian genocide and
speaking out against the principles by which it was conducted, we can
send a clear message: never again.