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MENENDEZ COMMENDS PASSAGE OF LEGISLATION COMMEMORATING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Greek News, New York
Aug. 7, 2006
Washington, D.C.- U.S. Representative Robert Menendez (D-NJ) made the
following statement on passage by the House International Relations
Committee of a bill to commemorate the Armenian genocide and urge
Turkey to acknowledge the culpability of the Ottoman Empire in the
genocide and separate legislation calling on the president to ensure
that U.S. foreign policy reflects appropriate understanding of the
Armenian genocide:
Mr. Chairman, the resolutions on the Armenian Genocide that we are
voting on today ask us to do just that - to remember. They simply
ask that we remember that the Ottoman Empire brutally tortured and
murdered 1.5 million Armenians 90 years ago and that half a million
Armenians were forced to flee their country.
They ask us to honor those who survived the genocide. Although few
survivors of the Armenian Genocide are still living today, those who
endured the horrors of 1915 are heroes for all time. They ask that
we honor those who died and call for recognition of the Genocide
carried about by the Ottoman Turkish government. And they ask that
we remember, so we don't repeat the same tragedy, anywhere, in any
country of the world.
In my view, all Americans must recognize that the atrocities
committed from 1915 to 1923 constitute genocide. We do not use that
word lightly. But the word, itself, makes a powerful statement about
the horrors suffered by the Armenian people. As Samantha Powers,
a leading expert on genocide said in a letter to the editor of
the New York Times, "The extermination of Armenians is recognized
as genocide by the consensus of scholars of genocide and Holocaust
worldwide. The failure to acknowledge this trivializes a human rights
crime of enormous magnitude."
Today, the people of Armenia and her diaspora are proudly seeking to
rebuild their country. From the ashes of despair born of the genocide,
and from the ravages of seven decades of communist rule, Armenians
the world over are striving to secure a safe and prosperous future
for Armenia and Nagorno-Karabagh.
As Armenian-Americans join with Armenians from throughout the world
to help to rebuild their homeland, and as they seek to secure an
economically prosperous state founded on firm democratic principles,
I will stand by them. Just as this Congress, and this country, should
stand by them.
That is why I am proud to cosponsor both of the resolutions before
us today. Both of these resolutions simply ask us to remember, and
to acknowledge, the Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire so
that we may honor the victims.
I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of these resolutions, not only
to remember the atrocities committed in the past and to honor the
victims and survivors, but also to take fundamental steps towards
ensuring that all people, whether they are Armenian, Greek Orthodox,
Jewish, Cambodian, or Rwandan, receive protection from policies of
discrimination and hate that lead can lead to genocide.
http://www.greeknewsonline.com/modules. php?name=News&file=article&sid=3783&mo de=thread&order=0&thold=0
Greek News, New York
Aug. 7, 2006
Washington, D.C.- U.S. Representative Robert Menendez (D-NJ) made the
following statement on passage by the House International Relations
Committee of a bill to commemorate the Armenian genocide and urge
Turkey to acknowledge the culpability of the Ottoman Empire in the
genocide and separate legislation calling on the president to ensure
that U.S. foreign policy reflects appropriate understanding of the
Armenian genocide:
Mr. Chairman, the resolutions on the Armenian Genocide that we are
voting on today ask us to do just that - to remember. They simply
ask that we remember that the Ottoman Empire brutally tortured and
murdered 1.5 million Armenians 90 years ago and that half a million
Armenians were forced to flee their country.
They ask us to honor those who survived the genocide. Although few
survivors of the Armenian Genocide are still living today, those who
endured the horrors of 1915 are heroes for all time. They ask that
we honor those who died and call for recognition of the Genocide
carried about by the Ottoman Turkish government. And they ask that
we remember, so we don't repeat the same tragedy, anywhere, in any
country of the world.
In my view, all Americans must recognize that the atrocities
committed from 1915 to 1923 constitute genocide. We do not use that
word lightly. But the word, itself, makes a powerful statement about
the horrors suffered by the Armenian people. As Samantha Powers,
a leading expert on genocide said in a letter to the editor of
the New York Times, "The extermination of Armenians is recognized
as genocide by the consensus of scholars of genocide and Holocaust
worldwide. The failure to acknowledge this trivializes a human rights
crime of enormous magnitude."
Today, the people of Armenia and her diaspora are proudly seeking to
rebuild their country. From the ashes of despair born of the genocide,
and from the ravages of seven decades of communist rule, Armenians
the world over are striving to secure a safe and prosperous future
for Armenia and Nagorno-Karabagh.
As Armenian-Americans join with Armenians from throughout the world
to help to rebuild their homeland, and as they seek to secure an
economically prosperous state founded on firm democratic principles,
I will stand by them. Just as this Congress, and this country, should
stand by them.
That is why I am proud to cosponsor both of the resolutions before
us today. Both of these resolutions simply ask us to remember, and
to acknowledge, the Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire so
that we may honor the victims.
I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of these resolutions, not only
to remember the atrocities committed in the past and to honor the
victims and survivors, but also to take fundamental steps towards
ensuring that all people, whether they are Armenian, Greek Orthodox,
Jewish, Cambodian, or Rwandan, receive protection from policies of
discrimination and hate that lead can lead to genocide.
http://www.greeknewsonline.com/modules. php?name=News&file=article&sid=3783&mo de=thread&order=0&thold=0