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PBS: Armenian Genocide Denialist Forum

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  • PBS: Armenian Genocide Denialist Forum

    Congressional Record: March 29, 2006 (House)
    >>From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

    PBS: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIALIST FORUM

    The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
    gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.

    Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to express my extreme
    disappointment with the Public Broadcasting System's decision to
    give a forum to Armenian genocide denialists following the April 17
    broadcast of Andrew Goldberg's documentary, "The Armenian Genocide."
    PBS should be commended for deciding to run Goldberg's documentary.

    However, the documentary should stand on its own. I am troubled by
    the network's decision to conduct a panel discussion immediately
    after the documentary that focuses on Turkey's role in the death of
    Armenians during and after World War I.

    The 25-minute panel discussion has generated an outcry because the
    panel will include two scholars who deny that 1.5 million Armenian
    civilians were killed in eastern Turkey from 1915 to 1923.

    I urge PBS to reconsider the inclusion of the panel discussion.

    Despite the Turkish Government's continued concerted effort to deny
    and alter history, there is no serious academic historian willing to
    dispute the genocide, or extermination, of 1.5 million Armenians at
    the hands of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. There are literally
    thousands of pages of documents in our national archive confirming
    the Armenian genocide.

    Prominent citizens of the day, including America's ambassador to
    the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, and Britain's Lord Bryce,
    reported on the massacres in great detail. Morgenthau was appalled at
    what he would later call the "sadistic orgies" of rape, torture and
    murder. Lord Bryce, a former British Ambassador to the United States,
    worked to raise awareness of and money for the victims of what he
    called "the most colossal crime in the history of the world."

    {time} 1930

    In October 1915, the Rockefeller Foundation contributed $30,000,
    a sum worth more than $.5 million today, to a relief fund for Armenia.

    Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that despite overwhelming
    documentation and eyewitness proof of the Armenian genocide, Mr.

    Goldberg's documentary includes denialist views to present a
    comprehensive perspective. This completely alleviates the need to
    include PBS's panel discussion. It is exceptionally inappropriate for
    PBS to include these two nonobjective scholars on the public airwaves
    so they can spread their political propaganda.

    And, Mr. Speaker, I would note that I would not feel any different
    about this issue if we were discussing Darfur, Rwanda or the Nazi
    Holocaust.

    Genocide deniers should not have a forum. The quest for fair and
    balanced information does not give a license to propagate false,
    misleading and offensive information about historical facts that
    relate to genocide.

    It is said that PBS continues to defend its decision to provide air
    time to Armenian genocide deniers; however, it is encouraging to see
    a growing number of PBS affiliates refusing to air the panel. And I
    want to commend each of the 25 affiliates who have already announced
    their intentions to air the Armenian genocide documentary without
    the inclusion of the panel discussion.

    Mr. Speaker, it is important that we urge PBS to maintain its
    commitment to public service, but no Member of Congress should accept
    PBS's decision to give credence to the denial of the deliberate
    murder of 1.5 million people, and I hope that PBS will reconsider
    its current position.
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