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ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION OVERDUE, CONGRESSMAN SAYS
Los Angeles Times, CA
April 24 2013
By Mark Kellam
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), lead sponsor of the Armenian genocide
resolution in Congress, delivered his remarks in Armenian on the House
floor Wednesday as he honored the estimated 1.5 million Armenians
who were massacred in 1915 at the hands of Ottoman Turks.
His remarks come the same day that President Obama once again did not
use the word "genocide" in his annual statement about the tragic event.
According to his office, in his Armenian address, Schiff said:
"I speak to you from the floor of the House of Representatives in
the language of your grandparents and your great-grandparents -
the language they used to speak of their hopes, their dreams, their
lives and their loves in the years before 1915.... I speak to you in
the language of sons who watched their fathers murdered."
On the 98th anniversary of the genocide, Schiff pointed out that
not only were Armenians murdered, Armenian women were raped by the
thousands.
"I speak to you in the language of the girls begging the gendarmes
for mercy," he said.
The Turkish government has refused to acknowledge the Armenian genocide
ever happened, and Obama has come under harsh criticism for not using
the term in his annual statements about the tragedy, where Armenian
families were massacred or forced to march through the desert heat,
often until their deaths.
"I speak you in the language of the children begging for a drop of
water," Schiff said.
The congressman noted there is "overwhelming evidence" - much of it
from American diplomats and journalists as well as Turkish historians
- that the genocide occurred and Schiff said he supports those who
fight to have it given its proper commemoration.
"I speak to you in the language of those who were lost," Schiff said.
"Their voices drift across the decades, begging us to remember."
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-armenian-genocide-recognition-overdue-congressman-says-20130424,0,7455302.story
Los Angeles Times, CA
April 24 2013
By Mark Kellam
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), lead sponsor of the Armenian genocide
resolution in Congress, delivered his remarks in Armenian on the House
floor Wednesday as he honored the estimated 1.5 million Armenians
who were massacred in 1915 at the hands of Ottoman Turks.
His remarks come the same day that President Obama once again did not
use the word "genocide" in his annual statement about the tragic event.
According to his office, in his Armenian address, Schiff said:
"I speak to you from the floor of the House of Representatives in
the language of your grandparents and your great-grandparents -
the language they used to speak of their hopes, their dreams, their
lives and their loves in the years before 1915.... I speak to you in
the language of sons who watched their fathers murdered."
On the 98th anniversary of the genocide, Schiff pointed out that
not only were Armenians murdered, Armenian women were raped by the
thousands.
"I speak to you in the language of the girls begging the gendarmes
for mercy," he said.
The Turkish government has refused to acknowledge the Armenian genocide
ever happened, and Obama has come under harsh criticism for not using
the term in his annual statements about the tragedy, where Armenian
families were massacred or forced to march through the desert heat,
often until their deaths.
"I speak you in the language of the children begging for a drop of
water," Schiff said.
The congressman noted there is "overwhelming evidence" - much of it
from American diplomats and journalists as well as Turkish historians
- that the genocide occurred and Schiff said he supports those who
fight to have it given its proper commemoration.
"I speak to you in the language of those who were lost," Schiff said.
"Their voices drift across the decades, begging us to remember."
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-armenian-genocide-recognition-overdue-congressman-says-20130424,0,7455302.story