[Congressional Record: April 22, 2005 (Senate)]
[Page S4148-S4149]
>From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr22ap05-88]
90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, today, as in previous years, I would like
to honor the memory of the victims of the Armenian genocide. This year
marks the 90th anniversary of the brutal campaign to eliminate
Armenians from the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
April 24 was chosen as the day of remembrance because on that date in
1915, more than 5,000 Armenians including civic leaders, intellectuals,
writers, priests, scientists, and doctors were systematically rounded
up and murdered. The systematic and intentional killing continued until
1923, leaving nearly 1.5 million Armenians dead.
There are those who attempt to deny that this atrocity ever occurred.
But there is no denying the overwhelming historical record and
eyewitness accounts that documented the appalling events of 1915-23,
which occurred during the time of the Ottoman Empire. The United States
Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, stated at the time
that “When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these
deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole
race; they understood this well, and, in their conversations with me,
they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact . . . I am
confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such
horrible episode as this.”
The annual remembrance of the Armenian genocide is not a condemnation
of our ally, the present day Republic of Turkey. But, our mutual
interest with our NATO partner and our friendship with, and respect
for, the Turkish people are not reasons to ignore historical fact.
Nobel Laureate writer Elie Wiesel has said that the denial of genocide
constitutes a “double killing” for it seeks to rewrite history by
absolving the perpetrators of violence while ignoring the suffering of
the victims.
During my time in the Senate, I have spoken about the Armenian
Genocide many times. It is important that we take time to remember and
honor the victims, and pay respect to the survivors who are still with
us. In addition, we must reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that
history is not repeated. This is the highest tribute we can pay to the
victims of any genocide.
Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to honor the memory of the 1.5
million Armenian genocide victims by recognizing that there are still
those in the world who will stop at nothing to perpetuate campaigns of
hate, intolerance, and unthinkable violence. We must do all we can to
stop atrocities, like those in the Darfur region of Sudan, from
occurring as well as continue to provide adequate recovery aid to
survivors. In doing so, we will truly honor the memory of genocide
victims and fulfill our responsibilities as a world leader.
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I rise to commemorate the 90th
anniversary of the Armenian genocide, the first genocide of the 20th
century. One and a half million men, women, and children lost their
lives as a result of the violent massacres and extensive deportation
carried out by the Ottoman Turkish rulers against their Armenian
citizens. Today, as we remember the bravery and sacrifice of the
Armenian people in the face of great suffering, we renew our commitment
to protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms of all humanity.
Nine decades have passed since the terrible blows that befell the
Armenian people in 1915. On April 24 of that year, more than 250
Armenian intellectuals and civic leaders in Constantinople were rounded
up and killed, in what was the first step in a systematic plan to
exterminate the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire. After the
round-up, Armenian soldiers serving in the Ottoman army were segregated
into labor battalions and brutally murdered. In towns and villages
across Anatolia, Armenian leaders were arrested and killed. Finally,
the remaining Armenian population, women, children, and the elderly,
were driven from their homes and deported to the Syrian Desert.
In reality, “deportation” was merely a euphemism for death marches.
Ottoman Turkish soldiers allowed brigands and released convicts to kill
and rape the deportees at will; often the soldiers themselves
participated in the attacks. Driven into the desert without food and
water, weakened by the long march, hundreds of thousands of Armenians
succumbed to starvation. In areas of Anatolia where deportation was not
deemed practicable, other vicious actions were undertaken. In the towns
along the Black Sea coast, for example, thousands of Armenians were
packed on boats and drowned.
The efforts to annihilate the Armenian population were well
documented in first-hand accounts, press reports, and other testimony.
Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey at the time, personally
made vigorous appeals to stop the genocide, calling it “a campaign of
race extermination” and “the greatest horror in history”. Leslie
Davis, a U.S. diplomat stationed in eastern Anatolia, had a similar
account, writing once to the State Department, “it has been no secret
that the plan was to destroy the Armenian race as a race, but the
methods used have been more cold-blooded and barbarous, if not more
effective, than I had at first supposed.” Even Germany, Ottoman
Turkey’s own ally, condemned the Turkish “acts of horror.”
Despite the testimony from U.S. diplomats who were witness to the
events and the abundance of credible, international evidence
documenting the Armenian genocide, there are still those who refuse to
acknowledge its occurrence. To anyone who doubts this brutal history, I
would recommend a visit to the National Archives, where much of the
evidence collected by our diplomats, along with survivors’ accounts,
are stored.
I do not deny that coming to terms with history is a difficult and
painful process, as those who lived in South Africa and the countries
of the former Soviet bloc can tell us. But the challenge of acceptance
does not justify the distortion of truth. Falsifying history insults
the memory of those who suffered and threatens our very understanding
of justice and humanity.
We have a national interest in seeking that our foreign policy is
grounded in the same principles on which this Nation was founded, a
respect for the truth, the rule of law, and democratic institutions.
Clearly, this was in part the administration’s motivation for its
recognition last fall of the genocide in Darfur. In his testimony
before the
[[Page S4149]]
Foreign Relations Committee on September 9, Secretary Powell declared
that “the evidence corroborates the specific intent of the
perpetrators to destroy ‘a group in whole or in part’.” This begs the
question: if Darfur, why not Armenia? Did the Ottomans not seek to
destroy the Armenians to this same extent?
Although Americans of Armenian origin, many of whom came to this
country fleeing persecution and looking to rebuild, make up a
relatively small community among the multitudes that comprise our
Nation, they have enriched our national life beyond proportion to their
numbers, in the arts and sciences, in medicine, in business, and in the
daily life of communities across the Nation. I support Americans of
Armenian origin in calling for recognition of the genocide committed
against their relatives 90 years and just a few generations ago. In
recognizing this tragedy, we reinforce our commitment to building a
world in which history will not repeat itself.