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The Riverdale Press
May 1 2014
Armenian Genocide was real
To the editor:
I just returned from Armenia as part of a bipartisan congressional
delegation and had the opportunity to mark the 99th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide in Yerevan. This horrific chapter in the bloodiest
century in history, which began in 1915, resulted in the slaughter of
1.5 million innocent Armenians.
These murders were a terrible tragedy for the Armenian people. They
still bear the scars today, and the barbarity inflicted on the
Armenians also led to a century of genocide and ethnic-cleansing.
When Hitler sneered, "Who after all speaks today of the annihilation
of the Armenians?," we see the link between indifference to the
Armenians and the murder of six million Jews. This same mindset has
influenced too many thuggish leaders over the past century --leaders
convinced that they can kill and brutalize their peoples with
impunity.
We owe it to history and to humanity to remember the victims of the
Armenian genocide -- for their sake, and for the sake of all of us.
Turkey needs to, at a minimum, apologize to Armenians and acknowledge
the crimes of its forefathers. By offering his condolences for those
who died, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken a
welcome step forward -- but his words fall far short of an official
apology.
Turkey owes that to itself, too, for Turkish society will be stronger
for having acknowledged the truth.
I want to express to the Armenian people my great sorrow and deepest
condolences. And I say to them, as we say regarding the Holocaust,
"Never again."
Rep. Eliot Engel
http://riverdalepress.com/stories/Armenian-Genocide-was-real,54242
May 1 2014
Armenian Genocide was real
To the editor:
I just returned from Armenia as part of a bipartisan congressional
delegation and had the opportunity to mark the 99th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide in Yerevan. This horrific chapter in the bloodiest
century in history, which began in 1915, resulted in the slaughter of
1.5 million innocent Armenians.
These murders were a terrible tragedy for the Armenian people. They
still bear the scars today, and the barbarity inflicted on the
Armenians also led to a century of genocide and ethnic-cleansing.
When Hitler sneered, "Who after all speaks today of the annihilation
of the Armenians?," we see the link between indifference to the
Armenians and the murder of six million Jews. This same mindset has
influenced too many thuggish leaders over the past century --leaders
convinced that they can kill and brutalize their peoples with
impunity.
We owe it to history and to humanity to remember the victims of the
Armenian genocide -- for their sake, and for the sake of all of us.
Turkey needs to, at a minimum, apologize to Armenians and acknowledge
the crimes of its forefathers. By offering his condolences for those
who died, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken a
welcome step forward -- but his words fall far short of an official
apology.
Turkey owes that to itself, too, for Turkish society will be stronger
for having acknowledged the truth.
I want to express to the Armenian people my great sorrow and deepest
condolences. And I say to them, as we say regarding the Holocaust,
"Never again."
Rep. Eliot Engel
http://riverdalepress.com/stories/Armenian-Genocide-was-real,54242