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Armenian Americans Mourn Passing Of Chairman Tom Lantos

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  • Armenian Americans Mourn Passing Of Chairman Tom Lantos

    ARMENIAN AMERICANS MOURN PASSING OF CHAIRMAN TOM LANTOS

    DeFacto Agency
    Feb 12 2008
    Armenia

    February 11 the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
    joined with Armenian Americans from across the United States in
    mourning the loss of long-serving California Congressman Tom Lantos,
    a Holocaust survivor and human rights champion who, in his final
    months in office, played a vital role, as Chairman of the U.S. House
    Foreign Affairs Committee, in this panel's adoption of the Armenian
    Genocide Resolution.

    In separate letters to Congressman Lantos' wife of 58 years, Annette,
    and to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian
    underscored the gratitude of the Armenian American community to
    Chairman Lantos for his leadership in rejecting the powerful forces
    of denial and securing, this past October, his Committee's passage
    of the Armenian Genocide Resolution. Hachikian also shared the hope
    and expectation that the full House of Representatives will, in the
    coming weeks, complete the Chairman's unfinished work by securing
    full Congressional recognition and commemoration of this crime against
    all humanity.

    Speaking on the PBS Newshour on October 11, 2007, a day after the
    Resolution's adoption at the committee level, Chairman Lantos told
    correspondent Margaret Warner that, "This is one of those events,
    Margaret, which has to be settled once and for all: 1.5 million
    utterly innocent Armenian men, women and children were slaughtered.

    And the Turkish government, until now, has intimidated the Congress of
    the United States from taking this measure. . . I think it's important,
    at a time when genocides are going on in Darfur and elsewhere, not
    to be an accomplice in sweeping an important genocide under the rug."

    Elected to office in 1980, Lantos was Chairman of the House Committee
    on Foreign Affairs and one of the country's leading champions of
    human rights. In 1983 he co-founded the congressional Human Rights
    Caucus. Commenting on her husband's passing, his widow noted that
    his life was "defined by courage, optimism, and unwavering dedication
    to his principles and to his family." The date for a public memorial
    service has not yet been set.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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