Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email [email protected]
Internet
PRESS RELEASE
February 11, 2008
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
ANCA MOURNS PASSING OF CHAIRMAN TOM LANTOS
WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
joined today 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.
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