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CR: Commemorating The Armenian Genocide - Dooley

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  • CR: Commemorating The Armenian Genocide - Dooley

    [Congressional Record: April 26, 2004 (Extensions)]
    [Page E645-E646]
    >From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
    [DOCID:cr26ap04-12]




    COMMEMORATING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

    ______


    HON. CALVIN M. DOOLEY

    of california

    in the house of representatives

    Monday, April 26, 2004

    Mr. DOOLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my
    colleagues in remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.

    [[Page E646]]

    This terrible human tragedy must not be forgotten. Like the
    Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide stands as a tragic example of the
    human suffering that results from hatred and intolerance.
    The Ottoman Turkish Empire between 1915 and 1923 massacred one and a
    half million Armenian people. More than 500,000 Armenians were exiled
    from a homeland that their ancestors had occupied for more than 3,000
    years. A race of people was nearly eliminated.
    It would be an even greater tragedy to forget that the Armenian
    Genocide ever happened. To not recognize the horror of such events
    almost assures their repetition in the future. Adolf Hitler, in
    preparing his genocide plans for the Jews, predicted that no one would
    remember the atrocities he was about to unleash. After all, he asked,
    ``Who remembers the Armenians?''
    Our statements today are intended to preserve the memory of the
    Armenian loss, and to remind the world that the Turkish government--to
    this day--refuses to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. The truth of
    this tragedy can never and should never be denied.
    And we must also be mindful of the current suffering of the Armenian,
    where the Armenian people are still immersed in tragedy and violence.
    The unrest between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues in Nagorno-
    Karabakh. Thousands of innocent people have already perished in this
    dispute, and many more have been displaced and are homeless.
    In the face of this difficult situation we have an opportunity for
    reconciliation. Now is the time for Armenia and its neighbors to come
    together and work toward building relationships that will assure
    lasting peace.
    Meanwhile, in America, the Armenian-American community continues to
    thrive and to provide assistance and solidarity to its countrymen and
    women abroad. The Armenian-American community is bound together by
    strong generational and family ties, an enduring work ethic and a proud
    sense of ethnic heritage. Today we recall the tragedy of their past,
    not to replace blame, but to answer a fundamental question, ``Who
    remembers the Armenians?''
    Our commemoration of the Armenian Genocide speaks directly to that,
    and I answer, we do.
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