PALLONE COMMEMORATES 92ND ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
States News Service
April 24, 2007 Tuesday
Washington
The following information was released by the office of New Jersey
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr.:
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), co-chairman of the Congressional
Caucus on Armenian Issues, gave the following statement last night on
the House floor to commemorate the 92nd Anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide.
"Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to commemorate the 92nd anniversary
of the Armenian genocide. As the first genocide of the 20th century, it
is morally imperative that we remember this atrocity and collectively
demand reaffirmation of this crime against humanity.
"On April 24, 1915, 92 years ago tomorrow, that day marked the
beginning of the systematic and deliberate campaign of genocide
perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire. Over the following eight years,
1.5 million Armenians were tortured and murdered, and more than
one-half million were forced from their homeland into exile. These
facts are indisputable, but to this day the U.S. Congress has never
properly recognized the Armenian genocide.
"The historical record, Mr. Speaker, on the Armenian genocide is
unambiguous and well-documented with overwhelming evidence. The U.S.
Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the time, Henry Morgenthau,
protested the slaughter of the Armenians to the Ottoman leaders. In
a cable to the U.S. State Department on July 16, 1915, Ambassador
Morgenthau stated that, ‘A campaign of race extermination is in
progress.’
"Mr. Speaker, if America is going to live up to the standards we set
for ourselves, and continue to lead the world in affirming human
rights everywhere, we need to finally stand up and recognize the
tragic events that began in 1915 for what they were: the systematic
elimination of a people.
"Despite pleas by Members of Congress and the Armenian-American
community and recognition by much of the international community,
President Bush continues to avoid any clear references to the Armenian
genocide, while consistently opposing legislation marking this crime
against humanity. Instead, he has chosen to succumb to shameless
threats by the Government of Turkey.
"I strongly believe that Turkey’s policy of denying the Armenian
genocide gives warrant to those who perpetrate genocide everywhere,
because denial is the last stage of genocide. If the cycle is to end,
there must be accountability. And just as we would not permit denying
the Holocaust, we cannot accept Turkey’s falsification of the facts
of 1915.
"Mr. Speaker, I must say that in the last few months the Turkish
Government has made every effort to try to prevent the Armenian
genocide resolution from coming to the floor of the House of
Representatives. But I just want to show why denial is such a bad
thing in a sense.
"Last week, I came to the floor and I pointed out that when the U.N.
wanted to do a project or an exhibit at the United Nations headquarters
talking about the genocide in Rwanda, because the Turkish Government
protested the inclusion of the Armenian genocide, the Rwandan genocide
never took place. There again, if you deny one genocide, you end up
denying or impacting the other.
"And the fact of the matter is that when some of my colleagues say
to me, ‘Well, why do you need to bring up something that occurred 92
years ago,’ I say, ‘Because by denying this, the Turkish Government
continues to perpetrate genocide or oppression of its minorities.
"Just a few weeks ago, there was something in the New York Times
about how the Turkish Government continues to persecute the Kurdish
minority. Many Kurds have been killed, driven from their homelands in
the same way Armenians were. The Kurds happen to be a Muslim people,
not a Christian people. That doesn’t matter. The Turkish Government
consistently oppresses minorities. They refuse also to open their
borders with Armenia. They have actually had a blockade of Armenia in
placed for several years, which contributes to the economic instability
of Armenia.
"So this is something that must be done. It must be accomplished,
that we recognize this genocide if it continues in various ways in
Turkey today.
"The second thing I would point out is that the Turkish Government
has been basically hiring lobbyists for millions of dollars to go
around and tell Members of Congress that if they pass the genocide
resolution, there will be dire consequences: Turkey will not allow
supplies to go to U.S. troops in Iraq.
"They have actually taken to having Members of Congress called and
told that their own soldiers in Iraq might be threatened if they pass
the genocide resolution.
"Well, again, this is the type of bullying that we, as a free
government, should not allow because bullying is essentially the same
thing that takes place when genocide takes place. Why should we give
in to the threats of a country that tries to bully our country over
such an important issue as the genocide?
"Now, let me just mention, Mr. Speaker, to wrap up, that tomorrow
evening at 6:30 the Armenian Caucus, which I co-chair, will host
an Armenian genocide commemoration event with the Armenian embassy,
and I hope that many of the Members will attend this."