Congressional Record: October 9, 2007 (House)
>From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr09oc07-94]
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
(Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey asked and was given permission to address
the House for 1 minute.)
Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the House Committee
on Foreign Affairs will consider H. Res. 106, affirming the United
States’ record on the Armenian genocide. I will ask my colleagues on
the committee to carefully consider this resolution and the vast body
of evidence that supports its conclusion.
The allied powers of the First World War early on recognized that the
Turkish Government at that time was committing crimes against humanity
by perpetrating the organized slaughter of Armenians. The U.S. Congress
of that time affirmed these crimes in hearings and resolutions. Though
the chief organizers of this crime were convicted of the massacres by
the Turkish military courts, they never were made to pay any penalty.
We fully recognize now the friendship of our allies in Turkey, but it
cannot change the past. I hope that there can be some reconciliation
between Turkey and Armenia and that a proper acknowledgment of the
crimes of the past can allow them to move forward into the future of
peace and mutual understanding.