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MULTIPLE RESOLUTIONS

MARKUP

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON 

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

ON

H.R. 1409, H.R. 3184, H.R. 3269, H. Res. 38,

H. Res. 388, H. Res. 409, H. Con. Res. 237,

H. Con. Res. 238, H.R. 1973, H. Con. Res. 195 and

H. Res. 316

SEPTEMBER 15, 2005

Serial No. 109–142

Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international—relations 

(II)

COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman 

JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, 

Vice Chairman 

DAN BURTON, Indiana 

ELTON GALLEGLY, California 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California 

PETER T. KING, New York 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado 

RON PAUL, Texas 

DARRELL ISSA, California 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia 

MARK GREEN, Wisconsin 

JERRY WELLER, Illinois 

MIKE PENCE, Indiana 

THADDEUS G. MCCOTTER, Michigan 

KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska 

MICHAEL MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

TOM LANTOS, California 

HOWARD L. BERMAN, California 

GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey 

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey 

SHERROD BROWN, Ohio 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

ROBERT WEXLER, Florida 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

BARBARA LEE, California 

JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York 

EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon 

SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada 

GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California 

ADAM B. SCHIFF, California 

DIANE E. WATSON, California 

ADAM SMITH, Washington 

BETTY MCCOLLUM, Minnesota 

BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky 

DENNIS A. CARDOZA, California 

THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR., Staff Director/General Counsel 

ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Staff Director 

DANIEL FREEMAN, Counsel/Parliamentarian 

JEAN CARROLL, Full Committee Hearing Coordinator 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

MARKUP 

H.R. 1973, To make access to safe water and sanitation for developing countries a specific policy objective of the United States foreign assistance 

programs, and for other purposes ....................................................................... 3

Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 1973 offered by the 

Honorable Earl Blumenauer, a Representative in Congress from the State 

of Oregon ........................................................................................................... 17

H. Con. Res. 195, Commemorating the Armenian Genocide of 1915–1923, 

urging the Government of the Republic of Turkey to acknowledge the 

culpability of its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, for the Armenian 

Genocide and engage in rapprochement with the Republic of Armenia and 

the Armenian people, and supporting the accession of Turkey to the European Union if Turkey meets certain criteria ..................................................... 40

H. Res. 316, Calling upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy 

of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity 

concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide 

documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide, 

and for other purposes ......................................................................................... 49

Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H. Con. Res. 195 offered 

by the Honorable Adam B. Schiff, a Representative in Congress from 

the State of California ...................................................................................... 61

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD 

Letter from the U.S. Department of State to the the Honorable Henry J. 

Hyde, a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois, and Chairman, Committee on International Relations, regarding H. Con. Res. 195 

and H. Res. 316 .................................................................................................... 87

The Honorable O. Faruk Logoglu, Turkish Ambassador to the United States: 

Prepared statement on H. Res. 316 and H. Con. Res. 195 ............................... 101

APPENDIX 

Material Submitted for the Hearing Record .......................................................... 111

(1)

MULTIPLE RESOLUTIONS 

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2005

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, 

Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:40 a.m., in room 

2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Henry J. Hyde (Chairman of the Committee) presiding. 

Chairman HYDE. Committee will come to order. 

We have a series of noncontroversial bills on the agenda today, 

which can be dealt with by unanimous consent. And then we have 

three bills which we will mark up. Without objection, the Chairman 

is authorized to seek consideration under suspension of the rules 

of the following measures and the amendments, which the Members have before them, will be deemed adopted. 

H.R. 1409 to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide assistance for orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries, as amended. H.R. 3184, to ensure that countries 

that have signed a Small Quantities Property Protocol also sign, 

ratify, and implement the additional protocol and provide access by 

IAEA inspectors to their nuclear-related facilities, et cetera, et 

cetera. 

H.R. 3269, to amend the International Organizations Immunities 

Act, to provide for the applicability of that Act to the bank for 

international settlements. 

H. Res. 38, expressing support for the accession of Israel to the 

Organization For Economic Cooperation and Development, as 

amended. 

H. Res. 388, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives, regarding the July, 2005 measures of extreme repression on 

the part of the Cuban Government against members of Cuba’s pro 

democracy movement. 

H. Res. 409, condemning the Government of Zimbabwe’s operation Murambatsvina under which homes, businesses, religious 

structures and other buildings and facilities were demolished in an 

effort characterized by the Government of Zimbabwe as an operation to restore order in the country. 

H. Con. Res. 237, expressing the sense of Congress welcoming 

President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan to the United States on September 20, 2005, as amended. 

And H. Con. Res. 238, honoring the victims of the Cambodian 

genocide, which took place from April, 1975 to January, 1979, as 

amended. 

2

All Members will be permitted to insert remarks in the record on 

any of these measures. 

Pursuant to notice, I call up the bill, H.R. 1973. 

H.R. 1973, to make access to safe water and sanitation for developing countries a specific policy and objective of the United States 

foreign assistance programs for purposes of markup and move its 

favorable recommendation to the House. Without objection the bill 

will be considered as read and open for amendment as any point. 

And the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oregon for purposes 

of offering an amendment. 

[The information referred to follows:]

3

1

I

109TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1973

To make access to safe water and sanitation for developing countries a

specific policy objective of the United States foreign assistance programs,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 28, 2005

Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Mr. SHAW, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. LEACH, Mr.

GEORGE MILLER of California, and Mr. TANCREDO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

A BILL

To make access to safe water and sanitation for developing

countries a specific policy objective of the United States

foreign assistance programs, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Water for the Poor

5 Act of 2005’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:


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2

•HR 1973 IH

1 (1) Water-related diseases are a human trag2 edy, killing up to 5 million people annually, pre3 venting millions of people from leading healthy lives,

4 and undermining development efforts.

5 (2) A child dies an average of every 15 seconds

6 because of lack of access to safe water and adequate

7 sanitation.

8 (3) In the poorest countries in the world, one

9 out of five children dies from a preventable, water10 related disease.

11 (4) Lack of access to safe drinking water, inad12 equate sanitation, and poor hygiene practices are di13 rectly responsible for the vast majority of diarrheal

14 diseases which kill over 2 million children each year.

15 (5) At any given time, half of all people in the

16 developing world are suffering from one or more of

17 the main diseases associated with inadequate provi18 sion of water supply and sanitation services.

19 (6) Over 1.2 billion people, one in every four

20 people in the developing world, lack access to safe

21 drinking water.

22 (7) Over 2.4 billion people, two in every five

23 people in the developing world, lack access to basic

24 sanitation services.


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•HR 1973 IH

1 (8) Nearly 500 million people are affected by

2 water stress or serious water scarcity. Under current

3 trends, two-thirds of the world’s population may be

4 subject to moderate to high water stress by 2025.

5 (9) Access to safe water and sanitation and im6 proved hygiene are significant factors in controlling

7 the spread of disease in the developing world and

8 positively affecting worker productivity and economic

9 development.

10 (10) Increasing access to safe water and sanita11 tion advances efforts toward other development ob12 jectives, such as fighting poverty and hunger, pro13 moting primary education and gender equality, re14 ducing child mortality, promoting environmental sta15 bility, improving the lives of slum dwellers, and

16 strengthening national security.

17 (11) Providing safe supplies of water and sani18 tation and hygiene improvements would save millions

19 of lives by reducing the prevalence of water-borne

20 diseases, water-based diseases, water-privation dis21 eases, and water-related vector diseases.

22 (12) Because women and girls in developing

23 countries are often the carriers of water, lack of ac24 cess to safe water and sanitation disproportionately


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4

•HR 1973 IH

1 affects women and limits women’s opportunities at

2 education, livelihood, and financial independence.

3 (13) Every $1 invested in safe water and sani4 tation would yield an economic return of between $3

5 and $34, depending on the region.

6 (14) Developing sustainable financing mecha7 nisms, such as pooling mechanisms and revolving

8 funds, is necessary for the long-term viability of im9 proved water and sanitation services.

10 (15) The annual level of investment needed to

11 meet the water and sanitation needs of developing

12 countries far exceeds the amount of Official Develop13 ment Assistance (ODA) and spending by govern14 ments of developing countries, so facilitating and at15 tracting greater public and private investment is es16 sential.

17 (16) Meeting the water and sanitation needs of

18 the lowest-income developing countries will require

19 an increase in the resources available as grants from

20 donor countries.

21 (17) The long-term sustainability of improved

22 water and sanitation services can be advanced by

23 promoting community level action and engagement

24 with civil society.


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5

•HR 1973 IH

1 (18) Target 10 of the United Nations Millen2 nium Development Goals is to reduce by half the

3 proportion of people without sustainable access to

4 safe drinking water by 2015.

5 (19) The participants in the 2002 World Sum6 mit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannes7 burg, South Africa, including the United States,

8 agreed to the Plan of Implementation of the World

9 Summit on Sustainable Development which included

10 an agreement to work to reduce by one-half ‘‘the

11 proportion of people who are unable to reach or af12 ford safe drinking water,’’ and ‘‘the proportion of

13 people without access to basic sanitation’’ by 2015.

14 (20) At the World Summit on Sustainable De15 velopment, the United States announced the Water

16 for the Poor Initiative, committing $970 million for

17 fiscal years 2003 through 2005 to improve sustain18 able management of fresh water resources and accel19 erate and expand international efforts to achieve the

20 goal of cutting in half by 2015 the proportion of

21 people who are unable to reach or to afford safe

22 drinking water.

23 (21) United Nations General Assembly Resolu24 tion 58/217 (February 9, 2004) proclaimed ‘‘the pe25 riod from 2005 to 2015 the International Decade for


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•HR 1973 IH

1 Action, ‘Water for Life’, to commence on World

2 Water Day, 22 March 2005’’ for the purpose of in3 creasing the focus of the international community on

4 water-related issues at all levels and on the imple5 mentation of water-related programs and projects.

6 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

7 It is the sense of Congress that—

8 (1) in order to make the most effective use of

9 amounts of Official Development Assistance (ODA)

10 for water and sanitation and avoid waste and dupli11 cation, the United States should seek to establish in12 novative international coordination mechanisms

13 based on best practices in other development sectors;

14 (2) the United States should greatly increase

15 the amount of Official Development Assistance made

16 available to carry out section 104D of the Foreign

17 Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 4(a) of

18 this Act;

19 (3) United States water and sanitation assist20 ance programs should reflect an appropriate balance

21 of grants, loans, investment insurance, loan guaran22 tees, and other assistance to ensure affordability and

23 equity in the provision of access to safe water and

24 sanitation for the very poor;


23437a.AAG
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•HR 1973 IH

1 (4) United States water and sanitation assist2 ance programs, to the extent possible, should sup3 port the poverty reduction strategies of recipient

4 countries;

5 (5) United States water and sanitation assist6 ance programs should promote community-based ap7 proaches in the provision of affordable and equitable

8 access to safe water and sanitation, including the in9 volvement of civil society; and

10 (6) protecting the supply and availability of safe

11 water requires sound environmental management.

12 SEC. 4. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND SANI13 TATION.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part I of the Foreign Assistance

15 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended by in16 serting after section 104C the following new section:

17 ‘‘SEC. 104D. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND

18 SANITATION.

19 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of assistance author20 ized by this section are—

21 ‘‘(1) to promote good health, economic develop22 ment, poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, and

23 environmental sustainability by providing assistance

24 to expand access to safe water and sanitation, proVerDate Mar 21 2002 10:57 Oct 11, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\091505M\23437.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL

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•HR 1973 IH

1 moting integrated water resource management, and

2 improving hygiene for people around the world;

3 ‘‘(2) to seek to reduce by one-half from the

4 baseline year 1990 the proportion of people who are

5 unable to reach or afford safe drinking water and

6 the proportion of people without access to basic sani7 tation by 2015;

8 ‘‘(3) to focus water and sanitation assistance

9 toward the countries and people with the greatest

10 need;

11 ‘‘(4) to promote affordability and equity in the

12 provision of access to safe water and sanitation for

13 the very poor, women, and other vulnerable popu14 lations;

15 ‘‘(5) to promote long-term sustainability in the

16 affordable and equitable provision of access to safe

17 water and sanitation through the creation of innova18 tive financing mechanisms such as national revolving

19 funds, and by strengthening the capacity of recipient

20 governments and communities to formulate and im21 plement policies that expand access to safe water

22 and sanitation in a sustainable fashion, including se23 curing loans and strategic planning;

24 ‘‘(6) to secure the greatest amount of resources

25 possible, encourage private investment in water and


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9

•HR 1973 IH

1 sanitation infrastructure and services, particularly in

2 lower middle-income countries, without creating

3 unsustainable debt for low-income countries or

4 unaffordable water and sanitation costs for the very

5 poor; and

6 ‘‘(7) to promote the capacity of recipient gov7 ernments to provide affordable, equitable, and sus8 tainable access to safe water and sanitation.

9 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—To carry out the purposes of

10 subsection (a), the President is authorized to furnish as11 sistance for programs in developing countries to provide

12 affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanita13 tion.

14 ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—Assistance provided

15 under subsection (b) shall, to the maximum extent prac16 ticable, be used to—

17 ‘‘(1) expand affordable and equitable access to

18 safe water and sanitation for underserved popu19 lations;

20 ‘‘(2) support the construction, maintenance, up21 keep, repair, and operation of water delivery and

22 sanitation systems;

23 ‘‘(3) improve the safety and reliability of water

24 supplies, including environmental management; and


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•HR 1973 IH

1 ‘‘(4) improve the institutional capacity of recipi2 ent governments, including capacity-building pro3 grams for improved water resource management.

4 ‘‘(d) LOCAL CURRENCY.—The President may use

5 payments made in local currencies under an agreement

6 made under title I of the Agricultural Trade Development

7 and Assistance Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to

8 provide assistance under this section, including assistance

9 for activities related to drilling or maintaining wells.’’.

10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 104(c) of

11 the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act

12 of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1704(c)) is amended by adding at the

13 end the following new paragraph:

14 ‘‘(9) SAFE WATER.—To provide assistance

15 under section 104D of the Foreign Assistance Act of

16 1961 to promote good health, economic development,

17 poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, and envi18 ronmental sustainability by improving the safety of

19 water supplies, including programs related to drilling

20 or maintaining wells.’’.

21 SEC. 5. SAFE WATER AND SANITATION STRATEGY.

22 (a) STRATEGY.—The Administrator of the United

23 States Agency for International Development, in consulta24 tion with the heads of other appropriate Federal depart25 ments and agencies, international organizations, interVerDate Mar 21 2002 10:57 Oct 11, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\091505M\23437.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL

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•HR 1973 IH

1 national financial institutions, recipient governments,

2 United States and international nongovernmental organi3 zations, indigenous civil society, and other appropriate en4 tities, shall develop and implement a strategy to further

5 the United States foreign assistance objective to provide

6 affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanita7 tion in developing countries.

8 (b) CONTENT.—The strategy required by subsection

9 (a) shall include—

10 (1) an assessment of the activities that have

11 been carried out, or that are planned to be carried

12 out, by all appropriate Federal departments and

13 agencies to improve affordable and equitable access

14 to safe water and sanitation and hygiene in all coun15 tries that receive assistance from the United States

16 Agency for International Development;

17 (2) specific and measurable goals, benchmarks,

18 and timetables to achieve the objective described in

19 subsection (a);

20 (3) an assessment of the level of resources that

21 are needed each year to achieve the goals, bench22 marks, and timetables described in paragraph (2);

23 (4) methods to mobilize and leverage the finan24 cial, technical, and managerial expertise of busi25 nesses, governments, nongovernmental organizations,


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•HR 1973 IH

1 and civil society in the form of public-private alli2 ances;

3 (5) methods to encourage reforms and increase

4 the capacity of foreign governments to formulate

5 and implement policies that expand access to safe

6 water and sanitation in an affordable, equitable, and

7 sustainable fashion, including securing loans and

8 strategic planning;

9 (6) methods to coordinate and integrate United

10 States water and sanitation assistance programs

11 with other United States development assistance

12 programs to achieve the objective described in sub13 section (a);

14 (7) methods to better coordinate United States

15 water and sanitation assistance programs with pro16 grams of other donor countries and entities to

17 achieve the objective described in subsection (a);

18 (8) methods to take into account the different

19 needs of countries with an absolute lack of resources

20 to expand water and sanitation access and countries

21 with the need to better allocate potentially sufficient

22 existing resources and the different activities appro23 priate to each, as well as countries with existing

24 markets for investment in water and sanitation and


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•HR 1973 IH

1 countries without existing markets for investment in

2 water and sanitation; and

3 (9) methods to take into account the need for

4 an appropriate balance of grants, loans, investment

5 insurance, loan guarantees, and other assistance to

6 ensure affordability and equity in the provision of

7 access to safe water and sanitation for the very poor.

8 (c) REPORTS.—

9 (1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days

10 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad11 ministrator of the United States Agency for Inter12 national Development shall submit to the appro13 priate congressional committees a report that de14 scribes the strategy required by subsection (a).

15 (2) SUBSEQUENT REPORTS.—Not less than

16 once every year after the submission of the initial re17 port under paragraph (1) until 2015, the Adminis18 trator shall submit to the appropriate congressional

19 committees a report on the status of the implemen20 tation of the strategy, progress made in achieving

21 the objective described in subsection (a), and any

22 changes to the strategy since the date of the submis23 sion of the last report.

24 (3) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term

25 ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means—


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•HR 1973 IH

1 (A) the Committee on International Rela2 tions and the Committee on Appropriations of

3 the House of Representatives; and

4 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations

5 and the Committee on Appropriations of the

6 Senate.

7 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro9 priated for fiscal year 2006 and each subsequent fiscal

10 year such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act

11 and the amendments made by this Act.

12 (b) OTHER AMOUNTS.—Amounts appropriated pur13 suant to the authorization of appropriations in subsection

14 (a) shall be in addition to the amounts otherwise available

15 to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this

16 Act.

17 (c) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant

18 to the authorization of appropriations under section (a)

19 are authorized to remain available until expended.

Æ


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17

Mr. BLUMENAUER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman for your courtesy. 

I would ask unanimous consent that the amendment in the nature 

of a substitute be adopted and considered as the base text for the 

purpose of amendment. 

Chairman HYDE. The amendment will not be adopted at this 

point but will be considered as read and will be adopted as the 

base text. 

[The information referred to follows:]

18

1

H.L.C.

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

TO H.R. 1973

OFFERED BY MR. BLUMENAUER

Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the

following:

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senator Paul Simon

3 Water for the Poor Act of 2005’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 Congress makes the following findings:

6 (1) Water-related diseases are a human trag7 edy, killing up to five million people annually, pre8 venting millions of people from leading healthy lives,

9 and undermining development efforts.

10 (2) A child dies an average of every 15 seconds

11 because of lack of access to safe water and adequate

12 sanitation.

13 (3) In the poorest countries in the world, one

14 out of five children dies from a preventable, water15 related disease.

16 (4) Lack of access to safe drinking water, inad17 equate sanitation, and poor hygiene practices are di18 rectly responsible for the vast majority of diarrheal


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2

H.L.C.

1 diseases which kill over two million children each

2 year.

3 (5) At any given time, half of all people in the

4 developing world are suffering from one or more of

5 the main diseases associated with inadequate provi6 sion of water supply and sanitation services.

7 (6) Over 1.1 billion people, one in every six peo8 ple in the world, lack access to safe drinking water.

9 (7) Nearly 2.6 billion people, two in every five

10 people in the world, lack access to basic sanitation

11 services.

12 (8) Half of all schools in the world do not have

13 access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

14 (9) Over the past 20 years, two billion people

15 have gained access to safe drinking water and 600

16 million people have gained access to basic sanitation

17 services.

18 (10) Access to safe water and sanitation and

19 improved hygiene are significant factors in control20 ling the spread of disease in the developing world

21 and positively affecting worker productivity and eco22 nomic development.

23 (11) Increasing access to safe water and sanita24 tion advances efforts toward other development ob25 jectives, such as fighting poverty and hunger, proVerDate Mar 21 2002 10:57 Oct 11, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\091505M\23437.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL

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3

H.L.C.

1 moting primary education and gender equality, re2 ducing child mortality, promoting environmental sta3 bility, improving the lives of slum dwellers, and

4 strengthening national security.

5 (12) Providing safe supplies of water and sani6 tation and hygiene improvements would save millions

7 of lives by reducing the prevalence of water-borne

8 diseases, water-based diseases, water-privation dis9 eases, and water-related vector diseases.

10 (13) Because women and girls in developing

11 countries are often the carriers of water, lack of ac12 cess to safe water and sanitation disproportionately

13 affects women and limits women’s opportunities at

14 education, livelihood, and financial independence.

15 (14) Between 20 percent and 50 percent of ex16 isting water systems in developing countries are not

17 operating or are operating poorly.

18 (15) In developing world water delivery sys19 tems, an average of 50 percent of all water is lost

20 before it gets to the end-user.

21 (16) Every $1 invested in safe water and sani22 tation would yield an economic return of between $3

23 and $34, depending on the region.

24 (17) Developing sustainable financing mecha25 nisms, such as pooling mechanisms and revolving


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4

H.L.C.

1 funds, is necessary for the long-term viability of im2 proved water and sanitation services.

3 (18) The annual level of investment needed to

4 meet the water and sanitation needs of developing

5 countries far exceeds the amount of Official Develop6 ment Assistance (ODA) and spending by govern7 ments of developing countries, so facilitating and at8 tracting greater public and private investment is es9 sential.

10 (19) Meeting the water and sanitation needs of

11 the lowest-income developing countries will require

12 an increase in the resources available as grants from

13 donor countries.

14 (20) The long-term sustainability of improved

15 water and sanitation services can be advanced by

16 promoting community level action and engagement

17 with civil society.

18 (21) Target 10 of the United Nations Millen19 nium Development Goals is to reduce by half the

20 proportion of people without sustainable access to

21 safe drinking water by 2015.

22 (22) The participants in the 2002 World Sum23 mit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannes24 burg, South Africa, including the United States,

25 agreed to the Plan of Implementation of the World


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22

5

H.L.C.

1 Summit on Sustainable Development which included

2 an agreement to work to reduce by one-half ‘‘the

3 proportion of people who are unable to reach or af4 ford safe drinking water,’’ and ‘‘the proportion of

5 people without access to basic sanitation’’ by 2015.

6 (23) At the World Summit on Sustainable De7 velopment, the United States announced the Water

8 for the Poor Initiative, committing $970 million for

9 fiscal years 2003 through 2005 to improve sustain10 able management of fresh water resources and accel11 erate and expand international efforts to achieve the

12 goal of cutting in half by 2015 the proportion of

13 people who are unable to reach or to afford safe

14 drinking water.

15 (24) United Nations General Assembly Resolu16 tion 58/217 (February 9, 2004) proclaimed ‘‘the pe17 riod from 2005 to 2015 the International Decade for

18 Action, ‘Water for Life’, to commence on World

19 Water Day, 22 March 2005’’ for the purpose of in20 creasing the focus of the international community on

21 water-related issues at all levels and on the imple22 mentation of water-related programs and projects.

23 (25) Around the world, 263 river basins are

24 shared by two or more countries, and many more


23437b.AAF
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6

H.L.C.

1 basins and watersheds cross political or ethnic

2 boundaries.

3 (26) Water scarcity can contribute to insecurity

4 and conflict on subnational, national, and inter5 national levels, thus endangering the national secu6 rity of the United States.

7 (27) Opportunities to manage water problems

8 can be leveraged in ways to build confidence, trust,

9 and peace between parties in conflict.

10 (28) Cooperative water management can help

11 resolve conflicts caused by other problems and is

12 often a crucial component in resolving such conflicts.

13 (29) Cooperative water management can help

14 countries recover from conflict and, by promoting

15 dialogue and cooperation among former parties in

16 conflict, can help prevent the reemergence of con17 flict.

18 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

19 It is the policy of the United States—

20 (1) to increase the percentage of water and

21 sanitation assistance targeted toward countries des22 ignated as high priority countries under section 6(f)

23 of this Act;

24 (2) to ensure that water and sanitation assist25 ance reflect an appropriate balance of grants, loans,


23437b.AAG
24

7

H.L.C.

1 contracts, investment insurance, loan guarantees,

2 and other assistance to further ensure affordability

3 and equity in the provision of access to safe water

4 and sanitation for the very poor;

5 (3) to ensure that the targeting of water and

6 sanitation assistance reflect an appropriate balance

7 between urban, periurban, and rural areas to meet

8 the purposes of assistance described in section 135

9 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by

10 section 5(a) of this Act;

11 (4) to ensure that forms of water and sanita12 tion assistance provided reflect the level of existing

13 resources and markets for investment in water and

14 sanitation within recipient countries;

15 (5) to ensure that water and sanitation assist16 ance, to the extent possible, supports the poverty re17 duction strategies of recipient countries and, when

18 appropriate, encourages the inclusion of water and

19 sanitation within such poverty reduction strategies;

20 (6) to promote country and local ownership of

21 safe water and sanitation programs, to the extent

22 appropriate;

23 (7) to promote community-based approaches in

24 the provision of affordable and equitable access to


23437b.AAH
25

8

H.L.C.

1 safe water and sanitation, including the involvement

2 of civil society;

3 (8) to mobilize and leverage the financial and

4 technical capacity of businesses, governments, non5 governmental organizations, and civil society in the

6 form of public-private alliances;

7 (9) to encourage reforms and increase the ca8 pacity of foreign governments to formulate and im9 plement policies that expand access to safe water

10 and sanitation in an affordable, equitable, and sus11 tainable manner, including integrated strategic plan12 ning; and

13 (10) to protect the supply and availability of

14 safe water through sound environmental manage15 ment, including preventing the destruction and deg16 radation of ecosystems and watersheds.

17 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

18 It is the sense of Congress that—

19 (1) in order to make the most effective use of

20 amounts of Official Development Assistance for

21 water and sanitation and avoid waste and duplica22 tion, the United States should seek to establish inno23 vative international coordination mechanisms based

24 on best practices in other development sectors; and


23437b.AAI
26

9

H.L.C.

1 (2) the United States should greatly increase

2 the amount of Official Development Assistance made

3 available to carry out section 135 of the Foreign As4 sistance Act of 1961, as added by section 5(a) of

5 this Act.

6 SEC. 5. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND SANI7 TATION.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign

9 Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amend10 ed by adding at the end the following new section:

11 ‘‘SEC. 135. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND

12 SANITATION.

13 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of assistance author14 ized by this section are—

15 ‘‘(1) to promote good health, economic develop16 ment, poverty reduction, women’s empowerment,

17 conflict prevention, and environmental sustainability

18 by providing assistance to expand access to safe

19 water and sanitation, promoting integrated water re20 source management, and improving hygiene for peo21 ple around the world;

22 ‘‘(2) to seek to reduce by one-half from the

23 baseline year 1990 the proportion of people who are

24 unable to reach or afford safe drinking water and


23437b.AAJ
27

10

H.L.C.

1 the proportion of people without access to basic sani2 tation by 2015;

3 ‘‘(3) to focus water and sanitation assistance

4 toward the countries, locales, and people with the

5 greatest need;

6 ‘‘(4) to promote affordability and equity in the

7 provision of access to safe water and sanitation for

8 the very poor, women, and other vulnerable popu9 lations;

10 ‘‘(5) to improve water efficiency through water

11 demand management and reduction of unaccounted12 for water;

13 ‘‘(6) to promote long-term sustainability in the

14 affordable and equitable provision of access to safe

15 water and sanitation through the creation of innova16 tive financing mechanisms such as national revolving

17 funds, and by strengthening the capacity of recipient

18 governments and communities to formulate and im19 plement policies that expand access to safe water

20 and sanitation in a sustainable fashion, including in21 tegrated planning;

22 ‘‘(7) to secure the greatest amount of resources

23 possible, encourage private investment in water and

24 sanitation infrastructure and services, particularly in

25 lower middle-income countries, without creating


23437b.AAK
28

11

H.L.C.

1 unsustainable debt for low-income countries or

2 unaffordable water and sanitation costs for the very

3 poor; and

4 ‘‘(8) to promote the capacity of recipient gov5 ernments to provide affordable, equitable, and sus6 tainable access to safe water and sanitation.

7 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—To carry out the purposes of

8 subsection (a), the President is authorized to furnish as9 sistance for programs in developing countries to provide

10 affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanita11 tion.

12 ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—Assistance provided

13 under subsection (b) shall, to the maximum extent prac14 ticable, be used to—

15 ‘‘(1) expand affordable and equitable access to

16 safe water and sanitation for underserved popu17 lations;

18 ‘‘(2) support the design, construction, mainte19 nance, upkeep, repair, and operation of water deliv20 ery and sanitation systems;

21 ‘‘(3) improve the safety and reliability of water

22 supplies, including environmental management; and

23 ‘‘(4) improve the capacity of recipient govern24 ments and local communities, including capacityVerDate Mar 21 2002 10:57 Oct 11, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00032 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\091505M\23437.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL

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H.L.C.

1 building programs for improved water resource man2 agement.

3 ‘‘(d) LOCAL CURRENCY.—The President may use

4 payments made in local currencies under an agreement

5 made under title I of the Agricultural Trade Development

6 and Assistance Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to

7 provide assistance under this section.’’.

8 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 104(c) of

9 the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act

10 of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1704(c)) is amended by adding at the

11 end the following new paragraph:

12 ‘‘(9) SAFE WATER AND SANITATION.—To pro13 vide assistance under section 135 of the Foreign As14 sistance Act of 1961 to promote good health, eco15 nomic development, poverty reduction, women’s em16 powerment, conflict prevention, and environmental

17 sustainability by increasing affordable and equitable

18 access to safe water and sanitation.’’.

19 SEC. 6. SAFE WATER AND SANITATION STRATEGY.

20 (a) STRATEGY.—The President, acting through the

21 Secretary of State, shall develop a strategy to further the

22 United States foreign assistance objective to provide af23 fordable and equitable access to safe water and sanitation

24 in developing countries, as described in section 135 of the


23437b.AAM
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13

H.L.C.

1 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 5(a)

2 of this Act.

3 (b) CONSULTATION.—The strategy required by sub4 section (a) shall be developed in consultation with the Ad5 ministrator of the United States Agency for International

6 Development, the heads of other appropriate Federal de7 partments and agencies, international organizations, inter8 national financial institutions, recipient governments,

9 United States and international nongovernmental organi10 zations, indigenous civil society, and other appropriate en11 tities.

12 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of State, act13 ing through the Administrator of the United States Agen14 cy for International Development, shall implement the

15 strategy required by subsection (a). The strategy may also

16 be implemented in part by other Federal departments and

17 agencies, as appropriate.

18 (d) CONSISTENT WITH SAFE WATER AND SANITA19 TION POLICY.—The strategy required by subsection (a)

20 shall be consistent with the policy stated in section 3 of

21 this Act.

22 (e) CONTENT.—The strategy required by subsection

23 (a) shall include—

24 (1) an assessment of the activities that have

25 been carried out, or that are planned to be carried


23437b.AAN
31

14

H.L.C.

1 out, by all appropriate Federal departments and

2 agencies to improve affordable and equitable access

3 to safe water and sanitation in all countries that re4 ceive assistance from the United States;

5 (2) specific and measurable goals, benchmarks,

6 and timetables to achieve the objective described in

7 subsection (a);

8 (3) an assessment of the level of funding and

9 other assistance for United States water and sanita10 tion programs needed each year to achieve the goals,

11 benchmarks, and timetables described in paragraph

12 (2);

13 (4) methods to coordinate and integrate United

14 States water and sanitation assistance programs

15 with other United States development assistance

16 programs to achieve the objective described in sub17 section (a);

18 (5) methods to better coordinate United States

19 water and sanitation assistance programs with pro20 grams of other donor countries and entities to

21 achieve the objective described in subsection (a); and

22 (6) an assessment of the commitment of gov23 ernments of countries that receive assistance under

24 section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961,

25 as added by section 5(a) of this Act, to policies or


23437b.AAO
32

15

H.L.C.

1 policy reforms that support affordable and equitable

2 access by the people of such countries to safe water

3 and sanitation.

4 (f) DESIGNATION OF HIGH PRIORITY COUNTRIES.—

5 The strategy required by subsection (a) shall further in6 clude the designation of high priority countries for assist7 ance under section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of

8 1961, as added by section 5(a) of this Act. This designa9 tion shall be made on the basis of—

10 (1) countries in which the need for increased

11 access to safe water and sanitation is greatest; and

12 (2) countries in which assistance under such

13 section can be expected to make the greatest dif14 ference in promoting good health, economic develop15 ment, poverty reduction, women’s empowerment,

16 conflict prevention, and environmental sustainability.

17 (g) REPORTS.—

18 (1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days

19 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec20 retary of State shall submit to the appropriate con21 gressional committees a report that describes the

22 strategy required by subsection (a).

23 (2) SUBSEQUENT REPORTS.—

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not less than once

25 every year after the submission of the initial reVerDate Mar 21 2002 10:57 Oct 11, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\091505M\23437.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL

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H.L.C.

1 port under paragraph (1) until 2015, the Sec2 retary of State shall submit to the appropriate

3 congressional committees a report on the status

4 of the implementation of the strategy, progress

5 made in achieving the objective described in

6 subsection (a), and any changes to the strategy

7 since the date of the submission of the last re8 port.

9 (B) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.— Such

10 reports shall include information on the amount

11 of funds expended in each country or program,

12 disaggregated by purpose of assistance, includ13 ing information on capital investments, and the

14 source of such funds by account.

15 (3) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term

16 ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means—

17 (A) the Committee on International Rela18 tions and the Committee on Appropriations of

19 the House of Representatives; and

20 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations

21 and the Committee on Appropriations of the

22 Senate.

23 SEC. 7. MONITORING REQUIREMENT.

24 The Secretary of State and the Administrator of the

25 United States Agency for International Development shall


23437b.AAQ
34

17

H.L.C.

1 monitor the implementation of assistance under section

2 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by

3 section 5(a) of this Act, to ensure that the assistance is

4 reaching its intended targets and meeting the intended

5 purposes of assistance.

6 SEC. 8. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING DEVELOPMENT

7 OF LOCAL CAPACITY.

8 It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State

9 should expand current programs and develop new pro10 grams, as necessary, to train local water and sanitation

11 managers and other officials of countries that receive as12 sistance under section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act

13 of 1961, as added by section 5(a) of this Act.

14 SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ADDITIONAL

15 WATER AND SANITATION PROGRAMS.

16 It is the sense of the Congress that—

17 (1) the United States should further support,

18 as appropriate, water and sanitation activities of

19 United Nations agencies, such as the United Na20 tions Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Na21 tions Development Programme (UNDP), and the

22 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP);

23 and

24 (2) the Secretary of the Treasury should in25 struct each United States Executive Director at the


23437b.AAR
35

18

H.L.C.

1 multilateral development banks (within the meaning

2 of section 1701(c) of the International Financial In3 stitutions Act) to encourage the inclusion of water

4 and sanitation programs as a critical element of

5 their development assistance.

6 SEC. 10. REPORT REGARDING WATER FOR PEACE AND SE7 CURITY.

8 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con9 gress that United States programs to support and encour10 age efforts around the world to develop river basin, aqui11 fer, and other watershed-wide mechanisms for governance

12 and cooperation are critical components of long-term

13 United States national security and should be expanded.

14 (b) REPORT.—The Secretary of State, in consultation

15 with the Administrator of the United States Agency for

16 International Development, shall submit to the Committee

17 on International Relations of the House of Representa18 tives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen19 ate a report on efforts that the United States is making

20 to support and promote programs that develop river basin,

21 aquifer, and other watershed-wide mechanisms for govern22 ance and cooperation.

23 SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro25 priated for fiscal year 2006 and each subsequent fiscal


23437b.AAS
36

19

H.L.C.

1 year such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act

2 and the amendments made by this Act.

3 (b) OTHER AMOUNTS.—Amounts appropriated pur4 suant to the authorization of appropriations in subsection

5 (a) shall be in addition to the amounts otherwise available

6 to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this

7 Act.

8 (c) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant

9 to the authorization of appropriations under section (a)

10 are authorized to remain available until expended.


23437b.AAT
37

Chairman HYDE. The gentleman is recognized for 5 minutes to 

explain his amendment. 

Mr. BLUMENAUER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me say I deeply appreciate the cooperation of you and Mr. Lantos in taking this 

legislation and advancing it in a way that I think each Member can 

feel pleased and proud that we will have an opportunity, as world 

leaders meet today in New York, to review the progress toward 

millennium goals that we will be doing our part dealing with the 

critical area of water access. Lack of access to safe water and sanitation is the number one killer in the world. 

It affects all of our development objectives from economic growth 

to the education of young girls and environmental sustainability. 

The scope of the impact, as set forth in the bill, and as we have 

had in testimony before the Committee, puts it on a scale that it 

is important that we extend all our efforts. There are currently 1.2 

billion people around the world who still don’t have access to safe 

drinking water and over 2.5 billion people who don’t have access 

to sanitation. The Water For the Poor Act is a result of a long process of input from Members of both sides of the aisle, from the development NGOs, environmental groups, engineering firms, waterrelated business, from the Administration, and I am pleased and 

proud how inclusive the process has been. 

It makes, as you said, Mr. Chairman, access to safe drinking 

water and sanitation in an affordable and equitable way a major 

strategy, a major objective of the United States foreign assistance, 

and requires the development of a strategy to meet the goal that 

President Bush agreed to in 2002, to cut in half the percentage of 

people in the world without this access. 

It ensures that water and sanitation assistance will be focused 

on the areas of greatest need that helps integrate those programs 

into other United States development programs, and sets the policy 

to ensure that our assistance is as effective as it can be. And we 

have had ample testimony again before the Committee that indicates there is lots of ingenuity and energy from faith-based organizations, professional groups and NGOs. 

It also helps address the role that conflict and cooperation over 

water can play in our own national security. And I am pleased, Mr. 

Chairman, to note that it—with your guidance, that it would honor 

the memory of former Senator Paul Simon, who was a pioneer in 

drawing our attention to this. I cherish the meeting I had with him 

and the copy of his book that I got that helped identify the water 

crisis. 

Our efforts on this legislation are designed to provide the United 

States Government, recipient governments and all their private 

sector and NGO partners with every tool possible to increase access 

to safe water and sanitation in an affordable and equitable fashion. 

This nonpartisan legislation complements a similar bill that has 

been introduced in the Senate by Senate Majority Leader Frist and 

the Democratic leader, Harry Reid. I am hopeful that our action 

today will help spur action in the other body and it is something 

that we can take home, all being proud that we have taken an important step to make the world safer and more livable. Thank you, 

Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman HYDE. Thank you. 

38

Mr. Lantos. 

Mr. LANTOS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to commend you 

for scheduling this legislation for Committee consideration today. I 

also want to commend my good friend and distinguished colleague 

from Oregon, Mr. Blumenauer, for introducing this critically important legislation, which I am very pleased to be an original co sponsor. And I want to join him in paying tribute to our late colleague, 

Paul Simon, for his work in this field. 

Mr. Chairman, the entire world witnessed the unimaginable devastation of the recent hurricane as it brought destruction to the 

gulf coast, leaving over hundreds of thousands of people homeless 

and destitute. 

Not only have they lost their homes and loved ones, but those 

still in the hurricane ravaged areas are now being threatened with 

water-borne diseases caused by toxin filled flood waters. 

We now have a clear example in our own country that unsafe 

water and the lack of sanitation are threatening the lives of our 

own citizens. 

Unfortunately, the developing world has known this danger too 

well. 

Unsafe water and poor sanitation kill. 

Each year, more than 3 billion people—3 billion people—suffer 

from water-related diseases, from which over 3 million people die. 

Most of the victims are children under 5. 

The Water For the Poor Act seeks to address the problem of people lacking access to safe drinking water and the people who have 

no access to basic sanitation. Our legislation directs the Administration to make expanding access to safe water and sanitation a 

major policy objective of the United States development efforts. 

Our bill authorizes new programs to make this policy a reality, 

including expending affordable and equitable access to safe water 

and sanitation, and improving the capacity of national and local 

governments and communities to address effectively their water 

and sanitation needs. 

Our bill also authorizes our Secretary of State to develop a safe 

water and sanitation strategy, including designation of high priority countries with the greatest water and sanitation needs. 

Finally, our bill urges the Administration to expand programs 

that promote transboundary cooperation of water issues. 

In the interests of stability globally, and in keeping with our core 

humanitarian values, the United States must do all within our 

power to ensure that people everywhere have access to safe water 

and sanitation. And I strongly support this legislation, I urge all 

of my colleagues to do so. 

Chairman HYDE. Thank you, Mr. Lantos. Are there any amendments? 

If not, the question occurs on the amendment in the nature of 

the substitute as amended. All those in favor say aye. Opposed, no. 

The ayes have it. 

The question now occurs on the motion to report the bill favorably as amended. All in favor say aye. Opposed, nay. 

The ayes have it. The motion to report the bill favorably is adopted. And without objection, the staff is directed to make any technical and conforming changes. 

39

Pursuant to notice, I call up the following bills, one, H. Con. Res. 

195, commemorating the Armenian genocide of 1915–1923, urging 

the Government of the Republic of Turkey to acknowledge the culpability of its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, for the Armenian genocide and engage in rapprochement with the Republic 

of Armenia and the Armenian people in supporting the accession 

of Turkey to the European Union if Turkey meets certain criteria; 

and two, H. Res. 316, calling upon the President to ensure that the 

foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, 

ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States 

record relating to the Armenian genocide for purposes of markup. 

Without objection the bills will be debated en bloc. They will be 

considered as read and open for amendment at any point, a separate vote on each measure will be taken if requested. 

[The information referred to follows:]

40

1

IV

109TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 195

Commemorating the Armenian Genocide of 1915–1923, urging the Government of the Republic of Turkey to acknowledge the culpability of its

predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, for the Armenian Genocide and

engage in rapprochement with the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people, and supporting the accession of Turkey to the European

Union if Turkey meets certain criteria.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 29, 2005

Mr. SCHIFF submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred

to the Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Commemorating the Armenian Genocide of 1915–1923, urging the Government of the Republic of Turkey to acknowledge the culpability of its predecessor state, the

Ottoman Empire, for the Armenian Genocide and engage

in rapprochement with the Republic of Armenia and

the Armenian people, and supporting the accession of

Turkey to the European Union if Turkey meets certain

criteria.

Whereas the 20th century was the bloodiest in history and

saw the application of the tools of the modern industrial

state to mass killings which have come to be called genocide;


23437c.AAB
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2

•HCON 195 IH

Whereas 20th century genocides have included the Armenian

Genocide, the Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide, and

the Rwandan Genocide;

Whereas the Government of Sudan is currently engaged in a

genocide against the people of Darfur, Sudan;

Whereas the consequences of these genocides continue to affect all humanity, especially those who have been its victims;

Whereas only by acknowledging responsibility and reconciling

with the victims can a nation or people that committed

genocide fully return to the community of nations;

Whereas the Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the

20th century;

Whereas the Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried

out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, prior to

the establishment of the Republic of Turkey;

Whereas in August 1914, the Ottoman Government formed

a paramilitary organization called the Special Organization;

Whereas the Special Organization created units called

‘‘butcher battalions’’, which were made up of violent

criminals released from prison, to carry out the extermination of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire;

Whereas in February 1915, the Ottoman Government ordered Armenian men serving in the army disarmed and

organized into forced labor groups;

Whereas on the night of April 23–24, 1915, hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders were summarily arrested in Constantinople;


23437c.AAC
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3

•HCON 195 IH

Whereas this was the first of a series of roundups of Armenian politicians, priests, scientists, lawyers, doctors, and

writers of the Ottoman Empire, most of whom were killed

soon after;

Whereas the first mass deportations began in late March

1915 in the region of Cilicia, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, according to an extensive plan of deportation and elimination of the Armenian population of the

Ottoman Empire that was prepared by Talat Pasha, the

head of the government;

Whereas notices of deportation were posted in public places

and the news announced publicly in the streets of Armenian towns and villages;

Whereas the Ottoman Government’s campaign resulted in the

deportation of nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom

1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed, 500,000

survivors were expelled from their homes, and which succeeded in the elimination of the over 2,500-year presence

of Armenians in their historic homeland;

Whereas there are numerous contemporaneous

documentations of the Ottoman Government’s campaign

against the Armenians, including extensive accounts in

Western newspapers and government documents in the

national archives of Austria, France, Germany, Great

Britain, Russia, the United States, and the Vatican;

Whereas this documentation unequivocally describes the systematic murder of the Armenian people and the destruction of Armenian life within the Ottoman Empire;

Whereas Henry Morgenthau Sr., the United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, sent a cable to the United

States State Department in 1915: ‘‘Deportation of and


23437c.AAD
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4

•HCON 195 IH

excesses against peaceful Armenians is increasing and

from harrowing reports of eye witnesses [sic] it appears

that a campaign of race extermination is in progress

under a pretext of reprisal against rebellion.’’;

Whereas Abram Elkus, who succeeded Morgenthau as United

States Ambassador in 1916, sent a cable to Washington

that the Ottoman Turks were continuing an ‘‘. . . unchecked policy of extermination through starvation, exhaustion, and brutality of treatment’’;

Whereas in 1920, the Communists came to power in Armenia

following an invasion by the Red Army;

Whereas Armenia was part of the Soviet Union for the next

70 years;

Whereas the Republic of Armenia is working toward democracy, the rule of law, and a viable free market economy

since obtaining its freedom from Soviet rule in 1991;

Whereas the Republic of Armenia is a member of the Council

of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation

in Europe, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s

Partnership for Peace;

Whereas the Republic of Armenia is a friend and ally of the

United States;

Whereas the modern Republic of Turkey was founded in

1923;

Whereas the Republic of Turkey abolished Ottoman institutions, including the sultanate and caliphate, and underwent a period of modernization and westernization;

Whereas the Republic of Turkey has been a long-standing

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•HCON 195 IH

ganization, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe;

Whereas the Republic of Turkey is a friend and ally of the

United States;

Whereas the Republic of Turkey, because of its position at

the crossroads of Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia,

and the Middle East, is well positioned to play a leading

role in shaping developments in Europe and beyond;

Whereas the United States has an interest in the stability

and economic development of Turkey and the Caucasus

region;

Whereas the Republic of Turkey desires to join the European

Union;

Whereas the European Union and the Republic of Turkey

will begin accession talks in October 2005;

Whereas former Secretary of State Colin Powell welcomed the

announcement of accession talks in December 2004 by

saying that the United States is ‘‘confident that the accession process, and Turkey’s eventual membership in the

European Union, will bring great benefits to Turkey and

to the European Union . . . [t]he Turkish people have

much to look forward to . . . [a] Turkey that is firmly

anchored in Europe and sharing European values will be

a positive force for prosperity and democracy . . . [t]his

is good for Turkey, for the broader European region, and

for the United States, and that is why successive United

States administrations have consistently supported Turkey’s European aspirations’’;

Whereas the European Union in 1993 established criteria for

membership for Central and Eastern European countries

that require that the candidate country must have


23437c.AAF
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6

•HCON 195 IH

achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy,

the rule of law, human rights, and respect for and protection of minorities, the existence of a functioning market

economy as well as the capacity to cope with competitive

pressure and market forces within the Union, and the

ability to take on the obligations of membership, including adherence to the aims of political, economic, and

monetary union;

Whereas Republic of Turkey is making progress in many of

these areas, as reflected in the decision to open accession

negotiations;

Whereas in order to meet the accession criteria regarding the

respect for and treatment of minorities, the Republic of

Turkey must acknowledge the culpability of its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, for the Armenian

Genocide;

Whereas the Republic of Turkey has consistently refused to

acknowledge the culpability of its predecessor state, the

Ottoman Empire, for the Armenian Genocide;

Whereas the European Parliament passed a resolution in

June 1987 stating that the killing of ‘‘Armenians living

in the territory of the Ottoman Empire constitute genocide within the meaning of the Convention on the Prevention and the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948’’;

Whereas in the 1987 Resolution the European Parliament

stated that ‘‘the refusal by the present Turkish Government to acknowledge the genocide against the Armenian

people committed by [the Ottoman] government, [is] an


23437c.AAG
46

7

•HCON 195 IH

insurmountable obstacle to consideration of the possibility

of Turkey’s accession to the Community’’;

Whereas the European Parliament, in a resolution passed in

November 2000 on Turkey’s progress toward accession to

the European Union, called upon Turkey ‘‘to give fresh

support to the Armenian minority, as an important part

of Turkish society, in particular by public recognition of

the genocide which that minority suffered before the establishment of the modern state of Turkey’’;

Whereas the European Parliament passed a resolution in

February 2002 reiterating its recognition of the Armenian Genocide and noting ‘‘that the Turkish regime after

the First World War had several of those responsible for

the genocide severely punished’’;

Whereas the European Parliament, in its December 2004

parliamentary report on Turkey’s progress toward accession to the European Union, urged Turkey to ‘‘promote

the process of reconciliation with the Armenian people by

acknowledging the genocide’’ and called on the European

Council and Commission to demand that Turkey ‘‘formally acknowledge the historic reality’’ of the Genocide;

Whereas the national parliaments of several members of the

European Union and a number of other national parliaments have passed resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide;

Whereas in recent years there has been an increasing willingness of Turkish academics, journalists, and others to

openly discuss the Armenian Genocide, but this has often

been met with hostility by the Government of the Republic of Turkey;


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•HCON 195 IH

Whereas a group of historians organized and scheduled an

academic conference relating to the Armenian Genocide

to take place starting June 1, 2005, at Bosporus University in Istanbul, but the Government of the Republic of

Turkey successfully pressured the university to cancel the

conference; and

Whereas the Republic of Turkey’s acknowledgement of the

actions of the Ottoman Government, including the terrible tragedy of the Armenian Genocide, will herald a new

chapter in the history of the region and usher in a new

era of economic, social, and political progress: Now,

therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That Congress—

3 (1) commemorates the victims of the Armenian

4 Genocide of 1915–1923;

5 (2) calls upon the President to commemorate

6 the victims of the Armenian Genocide on behalf of

7 the people and Government of the United States;

8 (3) calls upon the Government of the Republic

9 of Turkey to acknowledge the culpability of its pred10 ecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, for the Arme11 nian Genocide;

12 (4) calls upon the Government of the Republic

13 of Turkey to promote rapprochement with the Re14 public of Armenia and the Armenian people and re15 alize a just resolution;


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9

•HCON 195 IH

1 (5) supports the accession to the European

2 Union of the Republic of Turkey if Turkey—

3 (A) acknowledges the culpability of its

4 predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire for the

5 Armenian Genocide;

6 (B) pursues rapprochement with the Re7 public of Armenia and the Armenian people;

8 and

9 (C) meets the other criteria for accession

10 as determined by the European Union;

11 (6) calls upon the European Union to look with

12 favor upon any actions by the Government of the

13 Republic of Turkey to acknowledge the culpability of

14 its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, for the

15 Armenian Genocide and engage in rapprochement

16 with the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian

17 people;

18 (7) stands ready to assist the Republic of Tur19 key and the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian

20 people in this process; and

21 (8) calls upon the President, the Secretary of

22 State, the European Union, and others to assist the

23 Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Armenia

24 and the Armenian people in this process.

Æ


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1

IV

109TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. RES. 316

Calling upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United

States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning

issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 14, 2005

Mr. RADANOVICH (for himself, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr.

PALLONE, Mr. DREIER, Mr. WEINER, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. LEVIN, Mr.

SOUDER, Ms. WATSON, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. MCNULTY,

Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, Mr. SCHWARZ of Michigan, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr.

COSTELLO, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. ISRAEL, Mrs.

NAPOLITANO, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. KIRK, Mr. FILNER, Mr. SHERMAN,

Ms. ESHOO, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. MCGOVERN,

Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. VISCLOSKY, Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire, Mr.

BASS, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. NUNES, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. SHAW, Mr.

GRIJALVA, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. SWEENEY,

Mr. COSTA, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD,

Mr. ISSA, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. BILIRAKIS,

Mr. FOLEY, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. SMITH

of New Jersey, and Mr. ROYCE) submitted the following resolution; which

was referred to the Committee on International Relations

RESOLUTION

Calling upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy

of the United States reflects appropriate understanding

and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights,

ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United


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2

•HRES 316 IH

States record relating to the Armenian Genocide, and

for other purposes.

1 Resolved,

2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

3 This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Affirmation of

4 the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Reso5 lution’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The House of Representatives finds the following:

8 (1) The Armenian Genocide was conceived and

9 carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to

10 1923, resulting in the deportation of nearly

11 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men,

12 women, and children were killed, 500,000 survivors

13 were expelled from their homes, and which succeeded

14 in the elimination of the over 2,500-year presence of

15 Armenians in their historic homeland.

16 (2) On May 24, 1915, the Allied Powers, Eng17 land, France, and Russia, jointly issued a statement

18 explicitly charging for the first time ever another

19 government of committing ‘‘a crime against human20 ity’’.

21 (3) This joint statement stated ‘‘the Allied Gov22 ernments announce publicly to the Sublime Porte

23 that they will hold personally responsible for these

24 crimes all members of the Ottoman Government, as


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•HRES 316 IH

1 well as those of their agents who are implicated in

2 such massacres’’.

3 (4) The post-World War I Turkish Government

4 indicted the top leaders involved in the ‘‘organization

5 and execution’’ of the Armenian Genocide and in the

6 ‘‘massacre and destruction of the Armenians’’.

7 (5) In a series of courts-martial, officials of the

8 Young Turk Regime were tried and convicted, as

9 charged, for organizing and executing massacres

10 against the Armenian people.

11 (6) The chief organizers of the Armenian Geno12 cide, Minister of War Enver, Minister of the Interior

13 Talaat, and Minister of the Navy Jemal were all

14 condemned to death for their crimes, however, the

15 verdicts of the courts were not enforced.

16 (7) The Armenian Genocide and these domestic

17 judicial failures are documented with overwhelming

18 evidence in the national archives of Austria, France,

19 Germany, Great Britain, Russia, the United States,

20 the Vatican and many other countries, and this vast

21 body of evidence attests to the same facts, the same

22 events, and the same consequences.

23 (8) The United States National Archives and

24 Record Administration holds extensive and thorough

25 documentation on the Armenian Genocide, especially


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4

•HRES 316 IH

1 in its holdings under Record Group 59 of the United

2 States Department of State, files 867.00 and

3 867.40, which are open and widely available to the

4 public and interested institutions.

5 (9) The Honorable Henry Morgenthau, United

6 States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from

7 1913 to 1916, organized and led protests by officials

8 of many countries, among them the allies of the

9 Ottoman Empire, against the Armenian Genocide.

10 (10) Ambassador Morgenthau explicitly de11 scribed to the United States Department of State

12 the policy of the Government of the Ottoman Em13 pire as ‘‘a campaign of race extermination,’’ and was

14 instructed on July 16, 1915, by United States Sec15 retary of State Robert Lansing that the ‘‘Depart16 ment approves your procedure . . . to stop Armenian

17 persecution’’.

18 (11) Senate Concurrent Resolution 12 of Feb19 ruary 9, 1916, resolved that ‘‘the President of the

20 United States be respectfully asked to designate a

21 day on which the citizens of this country may give

22 expression to their sympathy by contributing funds

23 now being raised for the relief of the Armenians’’,

24 who at the time were enduring ‘‘starvation, disease,

25 and untold suffering’’.


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•HRES 316 IH

1 (12) President Woodrow Wilson concurred and

2 also encouraged the formation of the organization

3 known as Near East Relief, chartered by an Act of

4 Congress, which contributed some $116,000,000

5 from 1915 to 1930 to aid Armenian Genocide sur6 vivors, including 132,000 orphans who became foster

7 children of the American people.

8 (13) Senate Resolution 359, dated May 11,

9 1920, stated in part, ‘‘the testimony adduced at the

10 hearings conducted by the sub-committee of the Sen11 ate Committee on Foreign Relations have clearly es12 tablished the truth of the reported massacres and

13 other atrocities from which the Armenian people

14 have suffered’’.

15 (14) The resolution followed the April 13, 1920,

16 report to the Senate of the American Military Mis17 sion to Armenia led by General James Harbord, that

18 stated ‘‘[m]utilation, violation, torture, and death

19 have left their haunting memories in a hundred

20 beautiful Armenian valleys, and the traveler in that

21 region is seldom free from the evidence of this most

22 colossal crime of all the ages’’.

23 (15) As displayed in the United States Holo24 caust Memorial Museum, Adolf Hitler, on ordering

25 his military commanders to attack Poland without


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•HRES 316 IH

1 provocation in 1939, dismissed objections by saying

2 ‘‘[w]ho, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of

3 the Armenians?’’ and thus set the stage for the Hol4 ocaust.

5 (16) Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term

6 ‘‘genocide’’ in 1944, and who was the earliest pro7 ponent of the United Nations Convention on the

8 Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, invoked the

9 Armenian case as a definitive example of genocide in

10 the 20th century.

11 (17) The first resolution on genocide adopted

12 by the United Nations at Lemkin’s urging, the De13 cember 11, 1946, United Nations General Assembly

14 Resolution 96(1) and the United Nations Convention

15 on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide itself

16 recognized the Armenian Genocide as the type of

17 crime the United Nations intended to prevent and

18 punish by codifying existing standards.

19 (18) In 1948, the United Nations War Crimes

20 Commission invoked the Armenian Genocide ‘‘pre21 cisely . . . one of the types of acts which the modern

22 term ‘crimes against humanity’ is intended to cover’’

23 as a precedent for the Nuremberg tribunals.

24 (19) The Commission stated that ‘‘[t]he provi25 sions of Article 230 of the Peace Treaty of Sevres


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7

•HRES 316 IH

1 were obviously intended to cover, in conformity with

2 the Allied note of 1915 . . ., offenses which had been

3 committed on Turkish territory against persons of

4 Turkish citizenship, though of Armenian or Greek

5 race. This article constitutes therefore a precedent

6 for Article 6c and 5c of the Nuremberg and Tokyo

7 Charters, and offers an example of one of the cat8 egories of ‘crimes against humanity’ as understood

9 by these enactments’’.

10 (20) House Joint Resolution 148, adopted on

11 April 8, 1975, resolved: ‘‘[t]hat April 24, 1975, is

12 hereby designated as ‘National Day of Remembrance

13 of Man’s Inhumanity to Man’, and the President of

14 the United States is authorized and requested to

15 issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the

16 United States to observe such day as a day of re17 membrance for all the victims of genocide, especially

18 those of Armenian ancestry . . .’’.

19 (21) President Ronald Reagan in proclamation

20 number 4838, dated April 22, 1981, stated in part

21 ‘‘like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and

22 the genocide of the Cambodians, which followed it—

23 and like too many other persecutions of too many

24 other people—the lessons of the Holocaust must

25 never be forgotten’’.


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•HRES 316 IH

1 (22) House Joint Resolution 247, adopted on

2 September 10, 1984, resolved: ‘‘[t]hat April 24,

3 1985, is hereby designated as ‘National Day of Re4 membrance of Man’s Inhumanity to Man’, and the

5 President of the United States is authorized and re6 quested to issue a proclamation calling upon the

7 people of the United States to observe such day as

8 a day of remembrance for all the victims of geno9 cide, especially the one and one-half million people of

10 Armenian ancestry . . . ’’.

11 (23) In August 1985, after extensive study and

12 deliberation, the United Nations SubCommission on

13 Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Mi14 norities voted 14 to 1 to accept a report entitled

15 ‘‘Study of the Question of the Prevention and Pun16 ishment of the Crime of Genocide,’’ which stated

17 ‘‘[t]he Nazi aberration has unfortunately not been

18 the only case of genocide in the 20th century.

19 Among other examples which can be cited as quali20 fying are . . . the Ottoman massacre of Armenians

21 in 1915–1916’’.

22 (24) This report also explained that ‘‘[a]t least

23 1,000,000, and possibly well over half of the Arme24 nian population, are reliably estimated to have been

25 killed or death marched by independent authorities


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•HRES 316 IH

1 and eye-witnesses. This is corroborated by reports in

2 United States, German and British archives and of

3 contemporary diplomats in the Ottoman Empire, in4 cluding those of its ally Germany.’’.

5 (25) The United States Holocaust Memorial

6 Council, an independent Federal agency, unani7 mously resolved on April 30, 1981, that the United

8 States Holocaust Memorial Museum would include

9 the Armenian Genocide in the Museum and has

10 since done so.

11 (26) Reviewing an aberrant 1982 expression

12 (later retracted) by the United States Department of

13 State asserting that the facts of the Armenian Geno14 cide may be ambiguous, the United States Court of

15 Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1993, after

16 a review of documents pertaining to the policy

17 record of the United States, noted that the assertion

18 on ambiguity in the United States record about the

19 Armenian Genocide ‘‘contradicted longstanding

20 United States policy and was eventually retracted’’.

21 (27) On June 5, 1996, the House of Represent22 atives adopted an amendment to House Bill 3540

23 (the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Re24 lated Programs Appropriations Act, 1997) to reduce

25 aid to Turkey by $3,000,000 (an estimate of its payVerDate Mar 21 2002 10:57 Oct 11, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\091505M\23437.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL

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1 ment of lobbying fees in the United States) until the

2 Turkish Government acknowledged the Armenian

3 Genocide and took steps to honor the memory of its

4 victims.

5 (28) President William Jefferson Clinton, on

6 April 24, 1998, stated: ‘‘This year, as in the past,

7 we join with Armenian-Americans throughout the

8 nation in commemorating one of the saddest chap9 ters in the history of this century, the deportations

10 and massacres of a million and a half Armenians in

11 the Ottoman Empire in the years 1915–1923.’’.

12 (29) President George W. Bush, on April 24,

13 2004, stated: ‘‘On this day, we pause in remem14 brance of one of the most horrible tragedies of the

15 20th century, the annihilation of as many as

16 1,500,000 Armenians through forced exile and mur17 der at the end of the Ottoman Empire.’’.

18 (30) Despite the international recognition and

19 affirmation of the Armenian Genocide, the failure of

20 the domestic and international authorities to punish

21 those responsible for the Armenian Genocide is a

22 reason why similar genocides have recurred and may

23 recur in the future, and that a just resolution will

24 help prevent future genocides.


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•HRES 316 IH

1 SEC. 3. DECLARATION OF POLICY.

2 The House of Representatives—

3 (1) calls upon the President to ensure that the

4 foreign policy of the United States reflects appro5 priate understanding and sensitivity concerning

6 issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and

7 genocide documented in the United States record re8 lating to the Armenian Genocide and the con9 sequences of the failure to realize a just resolution;

10 and

11 (2) calls upon the President in the President’s

12 annual message commemorating the Armenian

13 Genocide issued on or about April 24, to accurately

14 characterize the systematic and deliberate annihila15 tion of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide and to re16 call the proud history of United States intervention

17 in opposition to the Armenian Genocide.

Æ


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60

Chairman HYDE. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California for purposes of offering an amendment. 

Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment in the nature 

of a substitute at the desk which Members should have before 

them. Among other things it removes the Turkish accession to the 

EU language from the measure. I ask for its immediate consideration and ask unanimous consent to have it considered as read. 

Chairman HYDE. Without objection the amendment in the nature 

of a substitute will be considered as read, and will be considered 

as the base text for purposes of markup. 

[The information referred to follows:]

61

1

H.L.C.

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

TO H. CON. RES. 195

OFFERED BY MR. SCHIFF

Strike the preamble and insert the following:

Whereas the 20th century was the bloodiest in history and

saw the application of the tools of the modern industrial

state to mass killings which have come to be called genocide;

Whereas 20th century genocides have included the Armenian

Genocide, the Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide, and

the Rwandan Genocide;

Whereas the Government of Sudan is currently engaged in a

genocide against the people of Darfur, Sudan;

Whereas the consequences of these genocides continue to affect all humanity, especially those who have been its victims;

Whereas the Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the

20th century;

Whereas the Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried

out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923;

Whereas in August 1914, the Ottoman Government formed

a paramilitary organization called the Special Organization;

Whereas the Special Organization created units called

‘‘butcher battalions’’, which were made up of violent

criminals released from prison, to carry out the extermination of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire;


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2

H.L.C.

Whereas in February 1915, the Ottoman Government ordered Armenian men serving in the army disarmed and

organized into forced labor groups;

Whereas on the night of April 23–24, 1915, hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders were summarily arrested in Constantinople;

Whereas this was the first of a series of roundups of Armenian politicians, priests, scientists, lawyers, doctors, and

writers of the Ottoman Empire, most of whom were killed

soon after;

Whereas the first mass deportations began in late March

1915 in the region of Cilicia, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, according to an extensive plan of deportation and elimination of the Armenian population of the

Ottoman Empire that was prepared by Talat Pasha, the

head of the government;

Whereas notices of deportation were posted in public places

and the news announced publicly in the streets of Armenian towns and villages;

Whereas the Ottoman Government’s campaign resulted in the

deportation of nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom

1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed, 500,000

survivors were expelled from their homes, and which succeeded in the elimination of the over 2,500-year presence

of Armenians in their historic homeland;

Whereas there are numerous contemporaneous

documentations of the Ottoman Government’s campaign

against the Armenians, including extensive accounts in

Western newspapers and government documents in the

national archives of Austria, France, Germany, Great

Britain, Russia, the United States, and the Vatican;


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3

H.L.C.

Whereas this documentation unequivocally describes the systematic murder of the Armenian people and the destruction of Armenian life within the Ottoman Empire;

Whereas Henry Morgenthau Sr., the United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, sent a cable to the United

States State Department in 1915: ‘‘Deportation of and

excesses against peaceful Armenians is increasing and

from harrowing reports of eye witnesses [sic] it appears

that a campaign of race extermination is in progress

under a pretext of reprisal against rebellion.’’;

Whereas Abram Elkus, who succeeded Morgenthau as United

States Ambassador in 1916, sent a cable to Washington

that the Ottoman Turks were continuing an

‘‘. . . unchecked policy of extermination through starvation, exhaustion, and brutality of treatment’’;

Whereas in 1920, the Communists came to power in Armenia

following an invasion by the Red Army;

Whereas Armenia was part of the Soviet Union for the next

70 years;

Whereas the Republic of Armenia is working toward democracy, the rule of law, and a viable free market economy

since obtaining its freedom from Soviet rule in 1991;

Whereas the Republic of Armenia is a member of the Council

of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation

in Europe, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s

Partnership for Peace;

Whereas the modern Republic of Turkey was founded in

1923;

Whereas the Republic of Turkey has been a long-standing

member of numerous international organizations, including the Council of Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty OrVerDate Mar 21 2002 10:57 Oct 11, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00067 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\091505M\23437.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL

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H.L.C.

ganization, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe;

Whereas the Republic of Turkey, because of its position at

the crossroads of Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia,

and the Middle East, is well positioned to play a leading

role in shaping developments in Europe and beyond;

Whereas the United States has an interest in the stability

and economic development of Turkey and the Caucasus

region;

Whereas in recent years there has been an increasing willingness of Turkish academics, journalists, and others to

openly discuss the Armenian Genocide, but this has often

been met with hostility by the Government of the Republic of Turkey;

Whereas a group of historians organized and scheduled an

academic conference relating to the Armenian Genocide

to take place starting June 1, 2005, at Bosporus University in Istanbul, but the Government of the Republic of

Turkey successfully pressured the university to cancel the

conference; and

Whereas the Republic of Turkey’s acknowledgement and just

resolution of the actions of the Ottoman Government, including the terrible tragedy of the Armenian Genocide,

will herald a new chapter in the history of the region and

usher in a new era of economic, social, and political

progress: Now, therefore, be it

Strike all after the resolving clause and insert the

following:

1 That Congress—


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5

H.L.C.

1 (1) commemorates the victims of the Armenian

2 Genocide of 1915–1923;

3 (2) calls upon the President to commemorate

4 the victims of the Armenian Genocide on behalf of

5 the people and Government of the United States;

6 (3) calls upon the Government of the Republic

7 of Turkey to

8 (A) end its campaign to deny the Arme9 nian Genocide; and

10 (B) acknowledge the genocide against the

11 Armenian people that was perpetrated by the

12 Ottoman Empire;

13 (4) calls upon the Government of the Republic

14 of Turkey to promote rapprochement with the Re15 public of Armenia and the Armenian people and re16 alize a just resolution of the Armenian Genocide;

17 (5) stands ready to assist the Republic of Tur18 key and the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian

19 people in a process of rapprochement based on truth

20 and the just resolution of the Armenian Genocide;

21 and

22 (6) calls upon the President, the Secretary of

23 State, and others to assist the Republic of Turkey

24 and the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian peoVerDate Mar 21 2002 10:57 Oct 11, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00069 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\091505M\23437.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL

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H.L.C.

1 ple in a process of rapprochement based on truth

2 and the just resolution of the Armenian Genocide.

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘Concurrent reolution

commemorating the Armenian Genocide of 1915–1923

and urging the Government of the Republic of Turkey to

acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and engage in rapprochement with the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people.’’.


23437e.AAG
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Chairman HYDE. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California to explain his amendment in the nature of a substitute. 

Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Chairman, at the outset, I want to thank you 

for conducting this markup today of H. Con. Res. 195 and H. Res. 

316. I know this is an issue that the Chairman has wrestled with, 

many Members of the Committee wrestled with, and I am very 

grateful to have the markup today. 

I would also like to acknowledge the long standing and strong 

work of my colleagues, George Radanovich, who is here in the Committee room with us today. I want to thank you publicly for all 

your work on this issue. I would also like to thank our other colleagues, who are leaders of the Armenian issues caucus in the Congress, Frank Pallone and Joe Knollenberg for all that hard work 

as well as to get to this point. 

Today, this Committee can begin anew the long overdue process 

of honoring one and a half million Armenians who perished in the 

Armenian genocide that began 90 years ago this past April. I consider this a sacred obligation to make sure that our country honors 

the past so that future generations of Americans remember the 

first genocide of the 20th century and that the men, women and 

children who perished at the hands of the Ottoman Empire are not 

lost to history. 

Time is the ally of those who would deny or change history such 

as it has been with Turkey and with the Armenian genocide. This 

genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire has been steadfastly 

denied by generations of Turkish leaders despite incontrovertible 

evidence to the contrary. 

My fellow Members of this Committee, there is no dispute that 

what happened on the Armenian people constitutes genocide. Indeed, in the more than 10 years that I have worked on genocide 

recognition no legislator has ever argued to me that the genocide 

did not occur. 

And how could they? Thousands of pages of documents in our national archives document the slaughter. 

One of these documents is a report from the American Consul 

and Trebizond, Oscar Heizer, on July 28, 1915, Heizer cabled the 

United States Embassy in Constantinople to report on the massacre of 180 Armenian road workers who were shot, stripped of 

their clothes and buried in the woods. Newspapers at the time were 

replete with articles reporting the wholesale slaughter of the Armenians ‘‘appeal to Turkey to stop massacres’’ headlined the New 

York Times on April 28, 1915, just as the killing began. 

On October 7th of that year, the Times reported that 800,000 Armenians had been ‘‘slain in cold blood in Asia Minor.’’ In mid December 1915, the Times spoke of a million Armenians killed or in 

exile. Prominent citizens of the day, including America’s Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morganthau and Britain’s 

Lord Bryce reported on the massacres in great detail. 

Morganthau was appalled of what he would later call sadistic orgies of rape, torture and murder. Lord Bryce, a former British Ambassador to the United States, worked to raise awareness of and 

money for the victims of what he called the most colossal crime in 

the history of the world. In October 1915 the Rockefeller FoundaVerDate Mar 21 2002 10:57 Oct 11, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00071 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\091505M\23437.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL
68

tion contributed $30,000, a sum worth more than half a million 

today, to a relief fund for Armenia. 

For the most part, the memory of the genocide persists through 

the efforts of people who were born decades after the slaughter. 

The generation of Armenians with direct memory of the genocide 

is almost gone. The children are aging. Much of the rest of the 

world has moved on, reluctant to dredge up unpleasant memories 

and the ire of modern Turkey. But even now almost a century after 

the start of the genocide, some survivors are still with us and are, 

in fact, with us in this Committee room. 

They have come to watch this Congress take a step toward righting an historic injustice. Mrs. Rose Baboyan was born in 1913 in 

the town Kharpert. When she was 1 year old, her father left her 

family to come to the United States. Rose and her two sisters—had 

two sisters and one brother. Both her sisters were massacred by 

the Turks in 1915. Her brother was injured and later died. Rose 

became separated from her mother and the two were not reunited 

for 2 years. Homeless and destitute, she and her mother made 

their way to America in the last 1920s. Mrs. Lusazine Tatarian 

was born in 1917 in Kilis, Turkey and ended up in Aleppo, Syria, 

later emigrating to the United States. She lost all her family, except for her father who later died from depression after the massacre. 

Yeretsin Sirarpi Khoyan is 100 years old and was born in 

Istanbul. During and after the genocide, she worked with eight 

other children who were orphaned as a result of the genocide. And 

I want to thank these three fine ladies for being with us today. 

What happened to Mrs. Baboyan, Mrs. Tatarian and Yeretsin 

Khoyan and their families was terrible but not remarkable. All 

over the Ottoman Empire, Armenian children and parents fled 

from their homes with only the clothes of their backs. 

But for those of us who care deeply about this issue, their stories 

are a reminder that we must redouble our efforts to ensure that 

our nation, which has championed liberty and human rights 

throughout its history is not complicit in Ankara’s effort to obfuscate what happened between 1915 and 1923. We are still by tacitly 

siding with those who deny the Armenian genocide, we have 

hollowed our commitment to never again let genocide occur. 

Today we have two resolutions that declare without equivocation 

or qualification that the mass murder of the Armenians in the 

Ottoman Empire was genocide. These should be easy resolutions 

for all of us, Republicans and Democrats, to support. The reason 

that we have yet to succeed in passing a resolution honoring the 

murdered Armenians is simple. The Government of Turkey refuses 

to acknowledge the genocide and has spent millions of dollars and 

countless hours of diplomatic effort to prevent us from commemorating the suffering of the Armenian people. Turkey’s opposition 

has always centered on the assertion that acknowledging the victims of the Armenian genocide would cause an irreparable rift between the United States, an important ally. Ankara’s behavior, in 

my view, is as inexplicable as it is shameful. Turkey bears responsibility for its decades of denial and for compounding the suffering 

of the Armenian people by attempting to blame the victims for the 

crime. 

69

The Turkish legal system has been made an instrument to perpetuate the policy of denial. In the past 2 weeks, the Washington 

Post, New York Times, Los Angeles times and the Wall Street 

Journal have all run editorials against Turkey’s decision to charge 

Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s most famous novelist, of violating a law 

against ‘‘denigrating Turkish identity.’’ What gave rise to this 

charge carries a sentence of 3 years in prison. In February, Mr. 

Pamuk told the Swiss newspaper 30,000 Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in this land and nobody but me dares to talk 

about it. 

Ankara also bears the blame for attempting to condition good relations with the United States on our acquiescence on Turkey’s denial of the Armenian genocide. Frankly, Mr. Chairman, I don’t believe that American Turkish relations would be ruptured by an official American recognition of the genocide such as Ronald Reagan 

made and others. Numerous other national Parliaments, including 

those of France, Germany, Canada, Sweden and Argentina, have 

recognized the genocide and Turkey did not break off relations with 

those countries. 

Chairman HYDE. The gentleman’s time has expired. Does he require additional time? 

Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Chairman if I might be allowed an additional 

minute, I will be able to conclude. 

Chairman HYDE. Without objection, one additional minute——

Mr. BURTON. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, reserving the right 

to object, and I will not object. I would just like to say that I would 

like to, as an opponent of this legislation, have the same amount 

of time. 

Chairman HYDE. I suspected you would. And we will certainly 

grant it. 

Mr. BURTON. God please you, my Chairman. 

Chairman HYDE. Thank you. 

Go ahead, Mr. Schiff. 

Mr. SCHIFF. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The European Parliament has passed multiple resolutions recognizing the genocide 

and urging Turkey to recognize its Ottoman past. Has Turkey broken off relations with the European Union? No, in fact, Turkey 

seeks to join the European Union. I am sensitive to the important 

role that Turkey plays as a balancer in the Middle East and as a 

bulwark against Islamic extremism. I consider Turkey an ally of 

the United States. But that alliance cannot be used as a tool to escape from the past, no matter how uncomfortable that past is. 

I have also read the letter sent to the Committee by the State 

Department yesterday evening. The letter states that the resolutions before the Committee could undermine United States-Turkey 

relations as well as the nascent dialogue between Ankara and 

Yerevan, frankly I find these arguments unpersuasive. There is no 

evidence that United States-Turkish relations—which are based on 

a broad array of share interests—will be damaged. Nor is there any 

support for the State Department’s assertion that Turkey is showing progress in coming to grips with its past. 

The decision to prosecute Mr. Pamuk, one of its most prominent 

citizens, is further proof it is unwilling to even permit an honest 

discussion of the genocide by its own citizens. 

70

On behalf of Mrs. Baboyan, Mrs. Tatarian, and Mrs. Khoyan, 

and millions no longer with us, I ask my colleagues to support both 

of these resolutions and to work to get them both the vote on the 

Floor. But we must do it soon for each year the events of 1915 to 

1923 recede a bit more into the darkness of history. 

Mr. Chairman, I yield back. 

Chairman HYDE. I do not intend to take issue with anybody on 

this important issue. But in the interests of accuracy and fairness, 

I think we should bear in mind the massacres were the work of the 

Ottoman Empire, which was and is distinct from the Republic of 

Turkey, which is now in existence. 

The Chair recognizes Mr. Burton. 

Mr. BURTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I know 

I look a lot younger but I have been here for 23 years in the Congress. 

And, well, anyhow, I think I look a lot younger. 

First of all, Mr. Chairman, I want to extend my sympathy to 

those people who have been named today who had relatives killed 

or mistreated during this period in history. 

But after having said that, let me just say, we have debated this 

issue in the Committee and on the Floor of the House of Representatives for over 20 years. 

And I want to give you some information that we have used in 

the past during these debates that I think is relevant. First of all, 

regarding the evidence or so-called evidence, that has been expressed today, credible historians, and I went to the Floor with a 

stack of books this high from historians who have a differing view 

on what happened during these time period. 

And recognizing incredible historians legal scholars and even nations have differing opinions on this. So there is a divergence of 

opinion on what happened. 

In addition, the Government of Turkey, the prime minister and 

the Parliament recently made a written offer to the Armenian Government to establish a joint commission—independent and outside 

both governments—in order to establish a common set of facts on 

this chapter in their common history. 

They wanted to get this thing behind them. They said, let’s sit 

down, let’s create an independent agency to look at this and get the 

facts out and get it behind us. This thing happened almost 100 

years ago, 80 to 100 years ago. And we are still beating on it 20 

some years after I first got involved in a debate on the Floor of the 

House of Representatives. It seems to me we have an ally in Turkey. We work with Armenians. We have great friends in Armenia, 

and we ought to get on with the problems facing this country and 

this world today, terrorism, Katrina, and other things, instead of 

rehashing this thing over and over and over again, every anniversary of it. It makes no sense to me. 

There should be a rapprochement between the sides that have 

differing views. And the Government of Turkey is trying to work 

that out and I applaud them for that. 

There is no solid evidence that I have seen in 20-some years, that 

the Ottoman Turks intended to destroy all Armenians. In fact, Armenians not involved in the revolt against the Ottoman rule and 

those not living in eastern provinces were unmolested by the 

71

Turks. That is an important fact to emphasize, Armenians in western Anatolia today, those not involved in the revolution, continue 

to live in peace and under the protection of the government. And 

they remain there, as I said today. Had the Ottoman Turks intended to destroy all Armenians, they surely would have attacked 

those settlements as well. That they didn’t indicates to me that the 

genocide standard of specific intent can’t be met in this case. 

And as recently as the year 2000—2000—the United Nations 

made a point of issuing a statement that it had concluded no finding of genocide with regard to this case. 

Now I could go on and on and on into all the arguments that 

have been raised over the years. And I understand there is a lot 

of pain—don’t misunderstand—there is sympathy that goes out to 

those people who suffered. But the fact of the matter is the evidence is not there. There is a divergence of opinion on this issue, 

and it is something that we ought to put to bed. 

And now that the Turkish Government wants to set up an independent commission to work with the Armenians to come up with 

a factual statement on what happened to get this thing resolved 

then I think that is what should be done. 

And for the Congress of the United States—and I don’t mean to 

say that we are wasting time—but for the Congress of the United 

States to continue to raise this issue year after year after year is 

something that we shouldn’t be doing. We have other important 

things that need to be done. And I would urge this independent 

commission between the Turks and the Armenians to sit down, go 

through the historical facts, work this thing out, and resolve it once 

and for all instead of bringing it back to the Congress year after 

year after year. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman HYDE. The Chair would remind the Members that 

both resolutions, Mr. Radanovich and Mr. Schiff, are being debated. 

The votes will be separate, but the debate covers both resolutions. 

I am now pleased to recognize Mr. Lantos. 

Mr. LANTOS. Thank you, very much Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Chairman, there are three issues here. I would like to deal 

with each of them. And I would like to indicate why I am changing 

my position of 5 years ago when I lead the debate against this resolution. 

The first issue relates to the technical definition of genocide. 

The Encyclopedia Britannica states, and I quote, ‘‘genocide is the 

deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people because 

of their ethnicity, nationality, religion or race.’’

I think a strong case can be made that the tragedy that befell 

the Armenian people does not meet the technical definition of the 

word ‘‘genocide.’’

Large numbers of Armenians, particularly in western Turkey, 

survived this period. And in point of fact, people in western Armenia—in western Turkey of Armenian origin who were not politically 

active, the vast majority of them survived. So I think the argument 

can be made, as we have made it in the past, as I have made it 

in the past, that the technical term genocide is inappropriately applied to this horrific historic event. 

The second point that I would like to make is that there isn’t a 

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foundly moved and anguished over the Armenian people’s unbearable suffering during this horrendous tragedy following the Second 

World War. Large numbers of Armenians were killed, raped, murdered, as a result of deprivation suffered during forced migration 

from their homes ordered by the Government of the Ottoman Empire. 

It is also a historic fact that the Ottoman Government instituted 

a Draconian program of forced transfer of its Armenian population 

from its concentration on the Russian border to the interior of the 

Ottoman Empire in responding to a specific situation. There were 

nationalistic movements which I applaud, but from the point of 

view of the Ottoman Empire, this was not a centralized decision to 

exterminate the Armenian people. 

So there are two issues here so far. One, the unspeakable suffering of the Armenian people, which we all recognize, and the 

President of the United States every year issues a statement acknowledging this and expressing our solidarity with the Armenian 

people; and the second, these horrors meeting or not meeting the 

technical definition of genocide. 

But there is a third issue which, in my book, overrides the other 

two—and that is the issue of U.S. national interest and the attitude of other countries vis-a-vis U.S. national interests. 

Let me give two examples from another arena. 

As you well know, Mr. Chairman, I was one of those in this body 

who led the fight for including Russia as a member of the G–8, at 

a time when Russia was moving in the direction of the democracy, 

at a time when Mr. Yeltsin was committed to making Russia a 

more open and more democratic society. 

But under Mr. Putin, an opposite trend took over. 

The independence of the media was destroyed. The independence 

of Parliament was destroyed. Governors were no longer elected 

butappointed by the Kremlin, and we are seeing a dramatic 

undemocratization of Russia. 

That is why Senator McCain, Senator Lieberman and our colleague,Christopher Cox and I, introduced the resolution excluding 

Russia from the G–8. 

More recently, we had a similar situation with respect to India. 

One of our top foreign policy concerns is to prevent Iran from developing weapons of mass destruction. India publicly stated that it opposes our policy of transmitting this dispute at this stage to the 

U.N. Security Council. 

This flies in the face of United States national interests, and this 

is why in recent weeks I have expressed sharp criticism of Indian 

foreign policy. 

There is a similar issue with respect to Turkey. 

And let me elaborate. 

On March 1, 2003, at a time when American forces were gathered on the Turkish border to enter Iraq, and had they been allowed to do so, the entire evolution of our war in Iraq would have 

been dramatically more favorable for American forces and large 

numbers of American lives would have been spared. 

As a matter of fact, the ongoing violence today is in no small 

measure attributable to Turkey’ refusal to allow American forces to 

enter Iraq from the north. 

73

This was a matter of major and historic consequence that Turkey 

caused and some of us, certainly I, will not overlook. 

More recently, Mr. Chairman, when the distinguished prime 

minister of Lebanon was assassinated in a huge suicide bombing 

episode in the heart of Beirut, with large numbers of innocent people dying, including Prime Minister Hariri, the only country on the 

face of this planet which called for sympathy for the Syrian regime, 

which called for peace and stability and not disturbing the status 

quo with respect the us out of Syria, was Turkey. 

I find this statement and this move incomprehensible. 

Be that as it may, our Turkish friends need to understand that 

support from the United States for matters that are important to 

them, is predicated upon their support of things that are important 

to the United States. 

This is the quid pro quo that I asked for from Russia. This is the 

quid pro quo I am asking for from India. And it is the quid pro quo 

I am asking from Turkey. 

Turkey ignored our interests with respect to Syria. Turkey ignored our interests with respect to the movement of our own 

Armed Forces. 

Under the circumstances, I will support both resolutions because 

I believe that our allies and friends from Russia, to India, to Turkey, must understand that if they expect the United States to support matters of great interests to them, we, in turn, under a reciprocal basis, expect them to support matters which are of great interest to us. I intend to vote for both resolutions, and I thank the 

Chair. 

Chairman HYDE. Thank you, Mr. Lantos. 

Ms. McCollum. 

Ms. MCCOLLUM. Thank you, Mr. Chair. 

I had an opportunity to attend in my district in St. Paul a remembrance of those who were victims of genocide. The Armenian 

committee warmly embraced and said prayers for the victims of 

genocide in Darfur. 1.5 million people, by a former Government, 

the Ottoman regime, died. 

I think it is important to listen to what Mr. Schiff said in his 

statement about the age of those who are survivors. 

We are running out of time as an international community to 

move forward toward peace and reconciliation by having an opportunity for those who are victims and those who remember the tragedy that was committed against those victims, to come together 

and heal. I am pleased that a joint commission is being discussed. 

And I do want to say I have spoken to people in Turkey, and people within the Turkish Government, who would like to see this reconciliation and healing moving forward. 

The fact that the Turkish Government has not done what many 

of us would like to see happen right away, I think is important. 

But also equally important, is that there are many in Turkey who 

do realize that truth and reconciliation and a recognition of history 

would go a long way in healing many wounds. It is important that 

we look to what has happened in history. Look at our own country. 

Native Americans, the Japanese internment, and in my state of 

Minnesota, people with mental illness that were warehoused, buried, without even a marker to recognize them as individuals. 

74

We have to acknowledge when we have had failures. We have to 

acknowledge when we have hurt one another. 

The failure to do so sends our children a signal. 

It sends our children a signal that it doesn’t matter what you do. 

People will forget about it. There is no lesson to be learned here 

from the way that we treated one another cruelly, inhumanely. 

There is no judgment. 

I do support both resolutions. But I would like to say this to the 

Turkish Government. 

You are moving forward—slowly, but forward. 

And I appreciate and I respect and I acknowledge that. 

But time is running out. 

As a Member of this Committee, I see it as my responsibility to 

try to be consistent on policies. 

I recognize that genocide in Darfur. I saw it with my own eyes. 

That was a government attacking its own citizens. 

And for me, what happened in the Ottoman Government, not the 

Turkish Republic, but the Ottoman Government, recognizing that 

history, was a government that attacked its own citizens. 

Fortunately, that government no longer exists. However, people 

living in the region have to have an accurate reflection of history 

that allows people to move forward in peace and reconciliation. 

And to the Turkish Government, I would also look to say, as I 

said to the Ambassador of Turkey when he was in my office shortly 

after the Turkish Parliament took a vote not to allow United States 

troops, I respect their sovereignty, I respect their democracy, and 

I respect their right to determine how Turkey engages in policy. 

Thank you, Mr. Chair. 

Chairman HYDE. Thank you. 

Mr. Smith of New Jersey. 

Mr. SMITH OF NEW JERSEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. 

Chairman, let me say at the outset that I support both resolutions, 

but I want to pay a special sense of gratitude, and thanks to Mr. 

Radanovich for his persistence in pursuing this very important recognition of the genocide that occurred against the Armenian people. 

I remind my colleagues that back in 2000, on September 14, 

2000, I chaired a hearing on Armenian genocide that looked into 

a resolution that Mr. Radanovich had introduced then, H.R. Res. 

398. It was a bipartisan resolution—David Bonior was the principal 

cosponsor, Mr. Radanovich was the prime sponsor—which really 

helped to bring this Congress, I think, to a recognition—even 

though it never made to it to the Floor, it was stopped by President 

Clinton, intervened and then put pressure on the Speaker not to 

bring the resolution forward. But the simple fact of the matter is 

as I did my own research, I had known about it, but not with the 

kind of depth that this hearing prompted me to do in terms of my 

research and the Committee’s research. And it became very clear, 

compelling and overwhelmingly clear. And even when we had the 

witnesses. And we had a Turkish Ambassador come and testify. 

And I asked him a number of pointed questions to which he did 

not give—and it is right on the record—in my view, satisfactory answers to those questions. 

So thank you to Mr. Radanovich, especially for your tenacity, 

those who forget the past are condemned to relive it. And I think 

75

your leadership has kept this issue alive. And I am deeply, deeply 

grateful. 

Let me say briefly, that in 1915 there were 2,000,000 Armenians 

living in what was then the Ottoman Empire. They were living in 

an region that they inhabited—that they inhabited—for some 2,500 

years. By 1923, well over 90 percent of these Armenians had disappeared. Most of them—as many as 1.5 million—were dead. 

The remainder had been forced into exile. The government of the 

empire, whose leaders were members of the movement known as 

the Young Turks called this campaign against Armenians a mass 

deportation, rather than a mass murder. But the United States 

Ambassador to Turkey at the time, Henry Morganthau, called it, 

and I quote him, ‘‘a campaign of race extermination.’’ The British, 

French and Russian Governments accused the Young Turk Government of a crime against humanity, the first time in history that 

charge was ever made by one state against another. And even the 

Government of the Republic of Turkey, the successor state, as Mr. 

Hyde pointed out a moment ago, to the Ottoman Empire tried and 

convicted a number of high ranking Young Turk officials for their 

role in what the Turkish Government then called the massacre and 

destruction of the Armenians. 

When the term ‘‘genocide’’ was invented in 1944, to describe the 

systematic destruction of an entire people, its author, Rafael 

Lemkin, illustrated the term by saying it was, and I quote him, 

‘‘the sort of thing Hitler did to the Jews and the Turks did to the 

Armenians.’’

Unfortunately, memories seem to have faded. The Government of 

the Republic of Turkey now denies that the Armenian genocide 

ever happened. They do not deny that people died by the hundreds 

of thousands or even that these deaths were often preceded by 

mass rape, torture, and other unspeakable atrocities. But they fall 

on the standard arguments that they have always used to defend 

the indefensible. 

They say it happened during wartime, and that the Armenians 

were being deported because many of them were in sympathy with 

the enemies of the empire, and that the atrocities were random 

acts committed by civilians and by soldiers acting without authorization from the central government. They dismissed contrary 

statements by the representatives of the governments of the United 

States, France and England, by saying that these officials were biased against the Ottoman Empire and against the Turkish people. 

But this dismissal ignores similar statements—and I underscore 

this—similar statements made by the Ambassadors of Germany 

and Italy who were allied with the empire in the first world war. 

It also dismisses the undeniable fact that the Armenians were 

being forcibly relocated a desert in which even those who were not 

massacred had no serious chance to survive. 

Even among those in this country who do not deny the basic 

facts of the Armenian genocide, there often seems to be a conspiracy of silence in Congress and elsewhere and a lot of obfuscation. Whenever the issue threatens to surface in Congress, we are 

quietly but firmly reminded by diplomats and other Executive 

Branch officials, and we have gotten that again from the State Department, that Turkey is a NATO ally—and I agree with that. 

76

They are a good ally. And they have assisted us in pursuing some 

of our objectives in the Middle East and elsewhere. Yet Germany 

is also an important ally. And these same diplomats and officials 

would never dream of denying or ignoring the Holocaust. 

Finally we say, friends don’t let friends commit human rights 

abuses or crimes against humanity or refuse to come to terms with 

them when once they have happened. Ironically, the principal effect 

of this systematic denial of the Armenian genocide is that it forces 

those who insist on the acknowledgement of the genocide—and I 

absolutely agree with them—to prove their case over and over 

again in more and more detail. 

So instead of learning the lessons of the past and applying them 

and having reconciliation based on truth, we find ourselves arguing 

about a terrible and despicable genocide that occurred almost a 

century ago. 

Again, I want to thank Mr. Radanovich for his leadership. I 

thank Mr. Schiff for his leadership as well. These resolutions need 

to move. 

Just recently I returned—and will complete my statement on 

this, Mr. Chairman—from Darfur. I am proud of the fact that 

President Bush, Colin Powell, and Dr. Rice call what is going on 

in Darfur—the killing of at least 180,000 people—genocide. We 

didn’t do it in Rwanda when something on the order of 800,000 

people were massacred. That clearly was a genocide. We didn’t do 

it in the Balkans. We need to learn from history. 

And as I said earlier, this is a Holocaust—or a genocide that 

needs to be recognized, and I think that is when the healing can 

begin. 

Chairman HYDE. Ms. Napolitano—excuse me. 

Mr. SMITH OF NEW JERSEY. Mr. Chairman, I would ask that the 

statement by Mr. Radanovich on the resolution be placed in the 

record at this time. 

Chairman HYDE. Without objection. 

Mrs. Napolitano. 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I too rise in 

support of both resolutions 195 and 316 with both of my good 

friends recognizing the Armenian genocide formally, so to speak. 

I have the second largest constituency of Armenians in the city 

of Montebello and nearby communities. So I have had firsthand 

conversations with many of the survivors who have begged us to 

carry the word to Congress to allow for the recognition of what 

really truly was genocide. 

And, yes, it was the Ottoman Empire, but it is still in the hands 

of the country that can right that wrong, much like, and of course 

there is very little comparison—the United States admitting that 

the internment of Japanese during World War II was a mistake. 

I just want to mention to Mr. Barton my good friend’s comments 

about us coming back year after year. Well, if that is what it takes, 

then we need to do it, to remind the American people that this is 

wrong. And any wrong needs to be righted, no matter whether it 

is today or 100 years from now. We are all part of the family. And 

I agree with my colleague’s statement that with Turkey not allowing our troops to have access to the northern part was a tremendous fallback for us and has not if diminished my memory of sitVerDate Mar 21 2002 10:57 Oct 11, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00080 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\091505M\23437.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL
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ting on this dais a while back, about a year or 2 ago, I can’t remember, my mind is so short, that allowed for money to go to Turkey. 

And I questioned the reason why were we giving money, it was $75 million, when they would not allow our United States troops 

to cross the northern borders into Kosovo. And that to me sticks 

in my mind. And yes we are allies, but our friends must recognize 

that we all must be up front about what is right and the recognition of the Armenian genocide is right. So thank you, Mr. Radanovich. Thank you, Mr. Schiff. And I yield to my good friend, Adam 

Schiff, the remainder of my time. 

Mr. SCHIFF. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and I also 

want to thank my colleague from California, Mr. Lantos, for his remarks, and Mr. Lantos brings a phenomenal experience to this 

Committee on every issue and it means a great deal that he would 

study this and deliberate on it as he has and share his thoughts 

with us. 

I want to comment very briefly on references that several of my 

colleagues have made to Darfur. 

This year we recognize the terrible events in Darfur’s genocide 

and properly so. 

It is genocide. 

And yet we struggle today to recognize the deliberate murder of 

1.5 million Armenians. Does anyone question that if the Armenian 

genocide was going on today, that we would recognize it and we 

would demand action? 

Has the passage of time so diminished the importance of 1.5 million lives? 

My colleague from Indiana says we should stop ‘‘rehashing’’ this 

thing. 

Has the passage of time turned the murder of a million and a 

half people into a thing to be rehashed? Can it be our policy to recognize genocide by the politically weak in Darfur, but not by the 

politically powerful, in Turkey and the Ottoman Empire? If that be 

our policy, then what does it say about the moral authority of the 

country that will recognize genocide committed by the weak but not 

by the powerful, by our foe but not by our friend? 

I agree with Mr. Smith. Sometimes you have to have the most 

difficult and painful conversations with your friends. Indeed, you 

are the only one who can. 

This is a conversation that has to take place, if America is not 

prepared to recognize the murder of a million and a half people, 

why should Turkey? And I thank my colleagues and I yield back 

the balance of my time. 

Chairman HYDE. I expect votes on the Floor around 11:45 to 

noon. We have nine Members have requested time to speak. 

I urge Members to be brief so we can conclude debate and vote 

on these two resolutions hopefully—but I think too hopefully—before we go to the Floor. 

But in any event, Mr. Royce, of California. 

Mr. ROYCE. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will just make my 

brief comments in support of House resolution 316, of which I am 

an original co sponsor. I carried a similar resolution in the State 

Senate in California some years ago that was enacted on this same 

78

basis. And I can share firsthand conversations that I had a generation ago with a number of survivors of the Armenian genocide, 

who, as children hid with their Turkish neighbors, as their entire 

cities were depopulated of every Armenian in those cities, every 

one was killed. 

Well, this resolution focuses singularly on the United States 

record of the Armenian genocide. And as the text indicates, our national archives, in fact, are replete with thousands of pages, documenting the premeditated extermination of the Armenian people. 

As the genocide was being committed, the United States launched 

a diplomatic, political and humanitarian campaign to end that carnage. We should be proud of that. Yet to this day, for a variety of 

reasons, we fail to recognize the events that began 90 year ago for 

what they were. And I believe what they were was genocide. And 

we have a chance to set this record straight today. 

Opponents will ask, why now? And they will undoubtedly warn 

of all the dire actions Turkey will take against the United States 

if this resolution passes. Yet it is important that this Committee 

doesn’t lose sight between what is right and what is wrong and 

speak out about the wrongs of the world and if there is one question, if there is one singular issue that should convince every one 

of us to vote for this resolution, in order to have it be heard, it is 

this fact. 

It is the fact that Orhan Pamuk now faces 3 years in prison for 

what? For daring to even say that this should be discussed in Turkey today. Now, if that is the response in Turkey, then this message has to be heard. And I will share with you that if we pass this 

message out of this Committee, if we pass this resolution, it will 

be heard because that action, that court action against him was as 

wrong as it is in incredible, frankly, colleagues, and I urge the passage of this bipartisan resolution to affirm the proud chapter in 

United States history at the time to halt that Armenian genocide 

and to call it what it is, a genocide. Thank you. 

Chairman HYDE. Ms. Lee of California. 

Ms. LEE. Thank you, and I too want to thank Mr. Schiff and Mr. 

Radanovich, and both you, Mr. Chairman, and Mr. Lantos for 

bringing this resolution to this Committee. The Armenian genocide 

is one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century. And many political leaders, scholars and professional organizations are beginning to document the truth so that everyone acknowledges and remembers this devastating event to the Armenian population. 

But our Government and our foreign policy also must be truthful 

and acknowledge what we know to be true, that over a million Armenians were murdered, hundreds of thousands were displaced 

and deported. And there are still a number of survivors and people 

in America who remember this and their children deserve this acknowledgement. Healing must begin. Healing must begin. And this 

resolution—both of these resolutions actually are steps forward in 

this process. 

We must never, never forget the heinous acts that victimized 

their families. If we let such atrocities be forgotten, then we are in 

danger of letting them be repeated. Unfortunately, there is a 

present day genocide occurring by the Government of Sudan 

against the people of Darfur. 

79

And I, too, witnessed this devastation earlier this year. 

So we must do all in our power to ensure that atrocities like 

these never happen again. That is why this resolution—these resolutions are extremely important. 

We must call it for what it is, and that is genocide. And that is 

the right thing to do, regardless of any possible much repercussions. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield the balance of my 

time. 

Chairman HYDE. Mr. Issa. 

Mr. ISSA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman I know we have a vote coming so I will be brief, but I wanted to touch on just a very few 

points. First of all, if we are going to have debate about the meaning of the word ‘‘genocide,’’ that is fine. Let’s do it in the report language. Let’s recognize that the term, Armenian genocide, has been 

an established term for 90 years. 

Second of all, Mr. Chairman, although I know that you said you 

had no position on these two bills, I do appreciate that you called 

this murder by a now extinct country that although the—in fact, 

the Ottoman Empire is no longer around, the terrible loss of life 

due to murder is undeniable. I believe, as Congresswoman Lee 

said, that if we don’t act on this, if we say well, it wasn’t quite 

genocide, and that that is the test, then quite frankly, is Darfur living up to the meaning of genocide? 

What if we are only talking about one part of a common people? 

Does that, by definition, mean its that it is not genocide? I would 

no longer deny the genocide than I would deny the Holocaust. And 

I think anyone who chooses to do so lumps together two somewhat 

similar, although generation apart terrible events in history. There 

is no longer a fascist German Government, but the Government of 

Germany does not deny the Holocaust just because it occurred 

under a previous Administration. 

We cannot allow Turkey to deny something which they are—it is 

not the responsibility of the Turkish people, but it is a legacy that 

will not go away. As a Lebanese American, I grew up knowing 

about this on a very intimate basis, because so much people were 

driving into Lebanon and into that region by the exodus that was 

forced upon them. So to, once again, keep my promise to be brief, 

I intend to support these bills. I certainly believe that there should 

be an openness and a freeness to combine both of the pieces of legislation, if possible, to find a way to make sure those who have a 

sensitivity about definitions, that it is done so in the appropriate 

manner in the report language. 

However, at some point, as Mr. Burton said, the Congress has to 

finish this and move on. We are not going to finish it and move on 

by looking at political expediency of whether we need Turkey with 

us on a particular day, when, in fact, 90 years ago it was not the 

Government of Turkey, but the Government of the Ottoman Empire who committed or participated or allowed this atrocity to 

occur. And with that I yield back. 

Chairman HYDE. Mr. Wexler of Florida. 

Mr. WEXLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I wish to associate myself with the heartfelt sentiments of my colleagues regarding the 

horrific tragedy that befell hundreds of thousands of Armenians 

from 1915 to 1923. I deeply sympathize with the pain and great 

80

loss suffered by Armenians across the world as they recall this horrific period in history. While I very much appreciate the efforts of 

the sponsors of these two resolutions, I do not believe that passage 

of these resolutions will bring Armenians and Turks any closer to 

reconciliation. 

I am afraid if the resolutions are approved by the Committee, 

both the Armenian and Turkish communities here in America and 

across the world will be pushed further apart, perpetuating a 

standoff that benefits neither side, leaving this festering wound 

open and unhealed. 

It is time for all parties, in my view, with the assistance of the 

United States and the international community, to place greater 

emphasis on bringing both the Armenian and Turkish groups together and encourage greater dialogue between academics, historians and the government officials of these two countries. 

While efforts to this end have been made in the past, Turkey has 

recently extended an olive branch, and I believe Prime Minister 

Erdogan and his government are sincere in their desire to bring 

closure to the very sad chapter in history. This past April, Prime 

Minister Erdogan sent Armenian President Kocharian a letter 

seeking the creation of a bilateral nongovernmental commission to 

fully research this issue and reach conclusions through a full examination of all relevant archives. To this date, President Kocharian, 

as I understand it, has neither accepted nor rejected this initiative. 

This is an unprecedented step. And we should be encouraging such 

efforts by the leaders in both countries to make it possible for a 

comprehensive examination of the issue. 

I also support the efforts of the organizers of an academic conference to be held this, or next week, in Turkey on this very issue. 

I would encourage leaders in Armenia to reciprocate and respond 

to the degree that they can in kind to these Turkish initiatives and 

help create an atmosphere conducive to greater dialogue and hopefully to eventual reconciliation. 

Mr. Chairman, my position is consistent with successive Republican and Democratic Administrations which yearly have issued 

statements recognizing the horrific tragedies of this period, the 

most recent one by President Bush. 

If I may, Mr. Chairman, I think it is important that we present 

a full picture of the record of Turkey and I would offer these few 

observations. When the Turkish Parliament rejected the American 

request of our ability to enter Iraq, I, along with our colleague, Mr. 

Whitfield and Mr. Rogers, went to Turkey to help articulate what 

we thought were Turkey’s and America’s interests. I was disappointed that we did not have the ability to enter using the Turkish fronts. 

However it would be an incomplete record if it was not pointed 

out, if we are judging Turkey’s role in the context of our latest endeavor in Iraq, to not point out that for more than a decade, we 

ran, along with our allies, the British, a no-fly zone that was run 

out of Incirlik Air Force in Turkey, and I would respectfully argue 

that the primary reason that our military was so successful so 

quickly in Iraq was because for more than a decade, we had the 

ability to debilitate Saddam Hussein’s military forces because of 

81

the no-fly zone, because of the greatness of our effort with our allies, the British. 

And the Turkish Government allowed that to happen, even 

though the net effect of that no-fly zone was greater autonomy for 

the Kurds, even though Turkey, of course, does not support a new 

or separate identity of a Kurdish state. They did that because they 

are our NATO ally. They did that because they have been with this 

country since the Korean war. 

With respect to our efforts in Afghanistan—let us not forget, my 

colleagues, please, that on two occasions, Turkey lead the international forces in Afghanistan. 

When the war—our war in Afghanistan was being coined as 

America’s war against the Muslim world, Turkey stepped up, and 

led those international forces in Afghanistan not ones but twice. 

Right after the British got done, the Turks came in. Let us not be 

so forgetful. 

Let us also acknowledge that even though we had great disappointment with the Turkish Parliament decision not to let our 

troops go through, but when President Bush sent out a call for help 

and assistance, the Turks came up with an offer for 10,000 

troops—10,000 troops they were willing to place in Iraq with our 

troops. We didn’t take that offer. Because of our interests, we decided not to. But Turkey, other than the British, offered more 

troops than any other country on the face of this earth. 

And if we want to talk about the relevance of Turkey to Middle 

East peace, just last week, the foreign minister of Pakistan met 

with the foreign minister of Israel in an unprecedented step in Turkey, all arranged in great part by the Turkish Government and the 

Turkish prime minister. 

Do I agree with the sentiments expressed in terms of Turkey’s 

role and position at the time with respect to Syria? Yes. And I don’t 

think anybody expressed a more vehement view in opposition to 

the Turks than I did in regard to what I thought was a disgraceful 

position, as Mr. Lantos rightfully pointed out, that the Turks took 

in regard to Syria at the time of Prime Minister—former Prime 

Minister Hariri’s assassination. 

And there are times to disagree. But I also respectfully suggest—

particularly when dealing with a NATO ally—that if we present 

the record, let it be a full record, criticize them as valid as we 

should when they have done what we think is wrong. But also acknowledge that they have also done extraordinary things as well 

as an ally that are in America’s interests and their interests at the 

same time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman for your indulgence. 

Chairman HYDE. The gentleman from Michigan, Mr. McCotter. 

Mr. MCCOTTER. Thank you Mr. Chairman. I will endeavor to be 

succinct. I will not try to sound curt in doing so. I will not rehash 

my view of the United States-Turkish relationship. I would like to 

address some specific points that were raised and perhaps reemphasize some. I would absolutely find it fascinating as a politician 

that someone who takes office is not more than happy to blame 

problems on the people who preceded them. And yet we see Turkey 

unwilling to admit that the genocide was committed by the Ottoman Empire, even to the extent that it will deal with its own citizens. So I think the distinction between the Ottoman Empire and 

82

the Turkish Republic—it may not be lost upon our Chairman, but 

it seems to be lost upon the Turkish Republic. 

Secondly, I do not find it persuasive that the U.N. Does not consider this a genocide. I don’t find anything the U.N. Does particularly persuasive, but maybe that is just me. 

Thirdly, the argument about time does not hold water with me. 

I know it has only been 90 years. And perhaps they will eventually 

get around to admitting that they did it, but I am not going to 

wait. As an Irish-Catholic, we don’t forget much, and I don’t think 

it is fair to ask the Armenians to either. 

Regarding the actual genocide itself when we discussed the number of survivors, we tend to confuse outcome with intent. Fortunately, no genocide that we know of has been entirely successful, 

and yet it remains a genocide because of the intent of the actors. 

In fact, we need look no further to find out whether the Armenian genocide was, in fact, considered one by Hitler who, on the eve 

of the Holocaust, said: ‘‘Who today remembers the annihilation of 

the Armenians?’’ He thought it was a genocide. And he used it as 

an example in his own mind to say to himself that he could get 

away with it and perpetrate it. 

Finally, as regards our relationship with Turkey. I will call it 

even so far, you know, I will consider what they did in Afghanistan 

a payback for us keeping their existence in place through the heroic act of the United States Congress and President Harry Truman in the Aid to Greece and Turkey package and that have 

passed in the wake of World War II, with the help of people like 

Senator Arthur Vandenberg. So let’s not forget the record is a one 

way street. 

But if we do not have honesty and truth amongst ourselves in 

our relations with our allies, then we will have no relationship at 

all. I think it was the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson that wrote, ‘‘Our 

one white lie sits like a little ghost here on the threshold of our 

enterprise.’’

I can see no long-term relationship with a nation where we must 

tiptoe around the truth of what we have done or what they have 

done in the name of national security. If we do not respect the humanity of each other, if we do not foster and encourage the humane 

treatment of others by each other, then that one lie will lead to the 

termination of a relationship. 

I support the resolutions, and I thank you. 

Chairman HYDE. We have three votes pending, and it is approaching lunchtime. The Chair will adjourn until 2 o’clock. We 

have nine Members who still wish to speak, and we assume their 

wishes will still be strong at 2 o’clock, so we will see you at 2. The 

Committee stands in recess. 

[Recess.] 

Chairman HYDE. The Committee will come to order. 

The Chair takes note that today is September 15th, marking the 

55th anniversary of the Inchon Landing which was carried out by 

U.S. and allied forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. The high tides at Inchon made this a risky operation, but 

it paid off handsomely. The Communist North Korean forces were 

completely caught off guard and the Inchon Landing turned the 

tide of the Korean War. Without Inchon our ally, the Republic of 

83

Korea, would not exist as a separate country today. So let us honor 

the memory of General MacArthur and those soldiers who fell at 

Inchon to preserve freedom on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. Let’s also honor those Korean War veterans still with us 

today for their sacrifice and service to the country. 

Now when the Committee recessed we were debating H. Con. 

Res. 195 and H. Res. 316 simultaneously. The Schiff amendment 

in the nature of a substitute was pending to H.Con.Res 195. Members who had requested time to speak are Mr. Tancredo. I have Mr. 

Meeks, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Sherman, 

Mr. Crowley, Ms. Berkley and Mr. Engel, and we have a latecomer, 

Mr. Berman. I am sure his contribution will be well worth the wait. 

Mr. Tancredo is recognized. 

Mr. TANCREDO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Chairman, I intend to vote for one of these resolutions today, 

and I do so reluctantly. I intend to vote for it again as I have voted 

for it in the past. Hopefully, however, this will be the last time we 

have to vote on this particular resolution or a resolution dealing 

with this issue because, although certainly after careful examination and study I agree with the premise that the acts of genocide 

were committed by the Ottoman Empire against individuals of Armenian dissent, and while it is important for this Congress and especially this Committee to recognize the travesties of human history, I find it disturbing that we have been forced to take sides in 

a treacherous and polarizing disagreement between two American 

allies. 

Now as we have stated, and it has been stated here in the Committee by others, the Government of Turkey has put forth an olive 

branch to their Armenian neighbors, Prime Minister Erdogan has 

proposed a panel made up of scholars from both countries to study 

the events of 1915 and share their findings with the world in hope 

of coming to consensus, agreement suitable for both parties. 

Mr. Chairman, I do not know if the Prime Minister’s proposal 

will permanently heal the wounds between Armenians and Turks; 

however, I bring this to my colleagues again because I firmly believe that this Nation’s on-going third-party involvement in this 

issue is causing more harm than good. 

Reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey will only be successful if the two nations work together to find a solution that is agreeable to both parties. After this resolution clears the Committee I 

would urge my colleagues to allow our allies, Turkey and Armenia, 

to negotiate and deliberate without further interference or deterrence from this Congress. We should be working to heal the 

wounds of history, and I don’t think this resolution aids us in that 

pursuit. 

I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman HYDE. Thank you. Mr. Meeks of New York. 

Mr. MEEKS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Let me first say democracy is a wonderful thing, and I don’t 

think that—one of the things that worries me is the climate in 

which this hearing is being held, because for me it is not a situation where we should be putting our thumbs in the eyes of the 

Turkish Government because of what our foreign policies are, because of democracy actually. They, in a democratic way, decided 

84

whether we could enter Iraq in a certain way or not, it was done 

fairly based upon their constitution. And I don’t think that because 

democracy worked in their country—even though it did not agree 

with what we would have liked here, at least some of us—that we 

should say now that we are going to punish them or do something 

that really upsets them. And I think that demeans the issue of 

which we are here to consider. I think that we need to take the 

issue on its face. And clearly in my estimation we have had, I agree 

with Mr. Tancredo, two good allies, and we should not do away 

with one as opposed to the other. 

I simply wish—and it is easy for us to say at times do as I tell 

you to do and not necessarily do as I do. I wish that some of the 

same outcry took place here in this house as it fortunately passed 

on the Senate side when we talked about the middle passage and 

slavery in this country, where millions of individuals died, yet from 

the time that I have been here we have tried to pass an act that—

in this House—a bill to say that simply that we apologize for the 

act of slavery in this country. It is easy to go to someone else and 

say this is what you must do, but we must take an internal look 

at ourselves and say what do we do when there is an injustice. 

We have yet to rectify that from within ourselves. We have yet 

to freely admit—even when I look at the school books and what we 

are teaching our kids, it is barely there that this country was a 

country that furthered slavery. We don’t talk about it, we try to 

hide it, that is wrong. And if ever in this country we are going to 

come to a position that we can really heal the racial divide, well, 

people were killed and brutalized simply because of the color of 

their skin. If ever we are going to come to the situation where we 

can heal and if we want the moral authority to be able to tell someone else what they should do, then I say we should clean up our 

own house and do what we should do first, because that is the only 

way that I believe there is true reconciliation. 

That doesn’t take away from the fact that when I look and I ask, 

and I have talked to scholars, I can feel the pain of the Armenian 

people who feel, I am sure, the same pain that I feel for my ancestors. And so it is my hope that, as I have heard some of my colleagues say, that both sides sit down and talk about it and try to 

resolve it. I think that is the proper way to get it done. 

But I do believe—you know, I wish for others what I wish for 

myself, and so I support this resolution simply because I believe it 

is the right thing to do. I wish we would do the right thing within 

our own house, to acknowledge that individuals, simply because of 

their ethnicity—and you can’t, you look at the facts and you see the 

millions of individuals that were killed, and it is not about blame. 

See, I think we go about these things wrong sometimes. We want 

to blame this one or blame that one. It is about reconciliation. It 

is about trying to make things whole so that we can be better. Because one thing in the end, you can be black, you can white, you 

can be Turkish, you can be Armenian, there is one thing that 

unites all of us. Whether you are from whatever part of the globe 

you are, we are all human beings, and we have got to figure out 

a way that as humans we can get along. We can recognize the mistakes of the past so that we can correct the future and have a betVerDate Mar 21 2002 10:57 Oct 11, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00088 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\FULL\091505M\23437.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL
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ter future as human beings, and I think that is the direction that 

we need to go in. 

I don’t think that this is the perfect thing, and I’m not even 

sure—reading it, you know, I hope and pray that we don’t divide 

friends further. But I do believe we have got to acknowledge the 

fact that they were a people that unjustly were killed, were raped, 

were robbed simply because of their ethnicity, and we have got to 

acknowledge that and we have got to try to heal and do better. 

I would urge my Members, my colleagues, that let’s do the right 

thing at home first, let’s make sure that we are on strong moral 

ground first. Let’s make sure that we move—and I should say 

also—and make sure that we practice what we preach. 

So I will support the two resolutions, but I want to make sure 

that it is for the reasons of not poking my thumb at the eye of the 

Turkish Government, of the Turkish people. It is because of the 

pain of the people, many and some of whom are still alive today, 

because I know if my ancestors who have suffered under the bitterness of slavery were alivetoday they would love to hear the United 

States of America say to them we are sorry for what we did. I wait 

to hear and wait for that day for us to do the right thing in our 

own house. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back. 

Chairman HYDE. Thank you. The Chair would like to suggest 

that notice has been taken of the shameful institution of slavery 

and that apologies have been made in program after program after 

program as well as in the—with the bodies of soldiers who lost 

their lives by the—I don’t remember the number, but it is astronomical—in the Civil War, to eliminate the scourge and the shame 

of slavery. And I don’t think the rest of America, the part of America that didn’t support slavery has a great deal to apologize for, at 

least in terms of recognizing the evil, the peculiar institution of 

slavery. And they have been making amends for years. There are 

many programs that benefit people who suffered under the scourge 

of slavery. I have ancestors who were killed in the Civil War fighting slavery. So I don’t think a lot of us have that much to apologize 

for. But we do recognize and regret profoundly the treating of people as less than equal citizens. That wasn’t the promise of America, 

and slowly but surely we are regaining it. 

I appreciate Mr. Meeks’ views on the matter, and I recognize the 

gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Burton. 

Mr. BURTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I realize I have spoken 

once on the first resolution, this is on the second one, but my feelings are the same on both. 

First of all, I would like to ask unanimous consent that we insert 

into the record a letter from the U.S. Department of State regarding these two resolutions, the Administration and the State Department for a number of reasons—which all of you have before 

you. I have passed these out to everybody—explains very strenuously why they think this legislation should not be passed. 

Mr. SCHIFF. May I make a parliamentary inquiry. 

Chairman HYDE. Yes. 

Mr. SCHIFF. We are still on the first resolution, and I don’t know 

if the Chair wants to get into the practice of two rounds of 5 minutes on each, but I would make the same request that my colleague 

86

from Indiana did, that if he would go an extra 5 minutes, I would 

like the same opportunity. 

Mr. BURTON. Mr. Chairman, I thought we were talking about 

both resolutions at once. I apologize if I was misinformed. 

Chairman HYDE. No, you are correct, we are debating both resolutions. Every Member is entitled to 5 minutes on each resolution, 

and if somebody wants to talk another five, having used five, they 

are welcome to. 

So Mr. Schiff, do you have additional time you want? 

Mr. SCHIFF. Yes, I do. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, but I will wait 

until my colleague finishes, of course. 

Mr. BURTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I once again will renew 

my request that, without objection, that be submitted for the record 

because I think the State Department’s views are very well stated. 

Chairman HYDE. Without objection, it will be made a part of the 

record. 

[The information referred to follows:]

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23437a.eps
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23437b.eps
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Mr. BURTON. I want to point out one other thing that has not 

been mentioned. We are talking about an alleged genocide that 

took place between 70 and 90 years ago, but I would like to talk 

about a genocide that took place on February 26, 1992, which nobody is talking about today. There was a town called Khojali, that 

was an Azerbaijani town in Armenia, and the Armenians drove 

those people out of that town on February 26, 1992. Brutally murdered were 613 people, whole families were annihilated, 1,275 were 

captured and a thousand civilians were maimed or crippled, and 

another 150 people were unaccounted for. A Russian human rights 

group called Memorial reported that scores of the corpses bore 

traces of profanation. 

Doctors on a hospital train in Aghdam noted that no less than 

four corpses had been scalped and one that had been beheaded, in 

one case a live scalping. Various other witnesses reported horrifying details of the massacre. The late Azerbaijani journalist, 

Mustafayev, who was the first to film the aftermath of the massacre, wrote an account of what he saw and he said some children 

were found with their ears cut off, the skin had been cut from the 

left side of an elderly woman’s face, and men had been scalped. 

Human Rights Watch called the tragedy at the time the largest 

massacre to date in the conflict. The New York Times wrote about 

truckloads of bodies and described acts of scalping and other inhumane activities. 

The only reason I bring this up is to point out that there was 

a genocide in 1992 in this particular town by the people who are 

raising Cain about the Armenian Genocide—supposed Armenian 

Genocide—that took place 75 to 90 years ago. And you know, our 

State Department talks about these being allies of ours, they have 

talked about sitting down together. The Turkish Government has 

said that they would like to sit down and have a commission look 

at both sides of the issue, have historians from both areas analyze 

this and come up with a final statement on what happened during 

this time period. That would solve the problem. For us, as I said 

before, to bring this up year after year after year serves no useful 

purpose. There has been atrocities on both sides, they need to be 

laid to rest, and the only way to do this is for the sides to sit down 

and work this thing out and have a historical reference made on 

what actually happened. 

To pass this kind of resolution only upsets our allies. Turkey has 

been a great ally of ours. I think this kind of criticism serves no 

useful purpose, and I sincerely hope my colleagues will keep this 

in consideration when they vote, and I yield back the balance of my 

time. 

Chairman HYDE. Mr. Menendez. 

Mr. MENENDEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I speak in strong 

support of both of these resolutions. Clearly the statement that 

those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. 

That statement is as true today as it was almost a hundred years 

ago when the philosopher George Santayana first wrote it, and the 

resolutions before us that we are voting on today ask us to do just 

that, to remember. They simply ask us to remember that the Ottoman Empire brutally tortured and murdered 1.5million Armenians 

90

90 years ago and that half a million Armenians were forced to flee 

their country. 

They ask us to honor those who survived the genocide, although 

there are few survivors still today of the Armenian Genocide living, 

and I believe some may be here with us today. Those who endured 

the horrors of 1915 are living witnesses. They ask that we honor 

those who died and call for recognition of the genocide carried out 

by the Ottoman Turkish Government, and they ask that we remember so that we don’t repeat the same tragedy anywhere in any 

country of the world. 

In my view, America must recognize that the atrocities were 

committed and that those atrocities committed between 1915 to 

1923 constitute genocide. We don’t use that word lightly, but the 

word itself makes a powerful statement about the horrors suffered 

by the Armenian people. 

As Samantha Powers, the leading expert on genocide, said in a 

letter to the editor of the New York Times, and I quote, ‘‘The extermination of Armenians is recognized as genocide by the consensus 

of scholars of genocide and holocausts worldwide. The failure to acknowledge this trivializes—trivializes—a human rights crime of 

enormous magnitude.’’

Now, there are holocaust deniers. They deny the realities of the 

past. They deny the fact that there are numerous contemporaneous 

documentations of the Ottoman Government’s campaign against 

the Armenians, including extensive records in Western newspapers 

and government documents in the national archives of Austria, 

France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, the United States and 

even the Vatican. They would deny that that documentation unequivocally describes a systematic murder of the Armenian people 

and the destruction of Armenian life within the Ottoman Empire. 

They would deny that the United States Ambassador, Henry Morgenthau, Sr., to the Ottoman Empire sends reports back to the 

United States back in 1915 in which he said, ‘‘The deportation of 

and excesses against peaceful Armenians is increasing, and from 

harrowing reports of eyewitnesses it appears that a campaign of 

race extermination is in progress under a pretext of reprisal 

against rebellion.’’

They would deny that Abram Elkus, who succeeded Morgenthau 

as the U.S. Ambassador in 1916, sent a statement back to the 

United States that the Ottoman Turks were continuing an ‘‘unchecked policy of extermination through starvation, exhaustion and 

brutality.’’ They would deny all of that. 

Now, their willingness to put on the altar of expediency and 

present day interests to deny the reality of all of the past is a mistake in and of itself that I hope we would have learned, is a mistake in itself that I hope we would have learned. How many times 

for present day expediency have we not supported and turned the 

eye away toward the abuses of a dictatorship or a regime simply 

because it was in our interest at the time? The Shah in Iran, the 

Taliban when they were fighting the Russians, and on and on and 

on. We turned a blind eye to abuses of the present because of 

present day interests only to find ourselves with huge future problems. 

91

Now, I think it is fitting and appropriate for the United States 

to pursue this course. Good friends and good allies can have strong 

and honest disagreements. And if the responses that we have seen 

from the Turkish Government—we hear about this olive branch 

being held out there, but then we also see what happens to those 

who suggest that there was a genocide and that it should be recognized, that is not in concurrence with a democracy. 

So for all of those reasons I think it is fitting and appropriate 

that the Committee today adopt both of these resolutions, and I 

urge my colleagues to strongly support them. 

Chairman HYDE. Mr. Smith of Washington. 

Mr. SMITH OF WASHINGTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this, and mostly I want to associate myself with the remarks of Representative Wexler and also 

Representative Tancredo earlier that the main issue here is reconciliation, is finding a way for the Armenians and the Turks to 

deal with this issue to both of their satisfaction, and to move forward with a positive relationship for them, and particularly with 

what Mr. Tancredo said, that this resolution does not help that 

process, it only drives the wedge further in and creates greater 

problems in that relationship. 

And I think it is very important, since both Armenia and Turkey 

are critical allies of ours, that we find a way to resolve that in that 

way. Much has been made of Germany’s recognition of the Holocaust. Germany came to that with people working with them, not 

with resolutions being forced upon them, and I think we should 

take that approach here as well. 

I also wish to say that I also want to associate myself with Mr. 

Wexler’s remarks about how important our relationship with Turkey is, and whether they have disagreed with us at points in the 

past, I don’t think that is any reason whatsoever to support this 

resolution as sort of a tit for tat; if you don’t agree with us, we will 

find a way to irritate you. I don’t think that is the way we should 

approach it, both because I don’t think that is appropriate in this 

resolution, but also because I think Turkey is a critical ally of ours. 

And particularly when you look at the main struggle for us in the 

world right now, which is finding an accommodation with the Muslim world, finding a way for the West and the Muslim world to coexist, unquestionably Turkey has stepped up time and time again, 

whether it is their relations with Israel, whether it is their support, 

as was mentioned, for our actions against Iraq after the first war, 

stepped up and been a bridge across that world, and that is an incredibly important bridge that I don’t want to lightly tear down. I 

think we need to maintain that relationship and build toward reconciliation on this issue. 

And I also want to deal with the genocide issue. And before I say 

anything on this, I am not an expert on it, I don’t want to say definitively exactly what it is. I do want to say two things. One, what 

happened to the Armenians was horrific. And first of all, nobody 

is denying that; those of us who are voting against this resolution 

are not denying that. And to my knowledge nobody is denying that 

what happened to Armenia in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 

and 1923 was a truly horrible crime against humanity, no doubt 

about that. Like I said, I think it is best if we find a way to resolve 

92

it. And as Representative Meeks I think pointed out quite well, 

they are far from alone in committing such crimes. 

But the question is, is it a genocide? And I think someone mentioned earlier that we can resolve that in report language. It seems 

to me like it is a pretty important term to be throwing around 

without making exactly sure of what we are saying. 

What happened in the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler wanted to exterminate every single Jew on the planet, and that was all that he did, 

and that was a genocide. So I think before we use that term we 

need to be absolutely certain about it. And I do worry about that, 

and that is one of my concerns in this resolution. There are truly 

horrific crimes against humanity of enormous magnitude that 

would not be called genocides. I think we need to make sure that 

we are using the term appropriately. But more than anything, I 

want to see this resolved, not because the United States is an ally 

of both Armenia and Turkey, but because it is very important for 

Armenia and Turkey to do it in a peaceable way that is to both of 

their agreement, and steps are being taken. 

So I hope that reconciliation process will go forward, and I vote 

against this resolution primarily because I don’t see it as being 

helpful for that. On the contrary, I think it would only exacerbate 

the problem and make it worse and drive that wedge further in. 

I yield back my time. 

Chairman HYDE. Ms. Berkley of Nevada. 

Ms. BERKLEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be supporting 

both of these resolutions, and before I yield my time to Congressman Schiff I would like to say a few words. 

There are some people that actually say that the Holocaust never 

happened, but the Holocaust did happen. And whether or not these 

Holocaust deniers acknowledge it, it doesn’t make six million Jews, 

one million of them children, any less dead. And the fact that every 

Armenian wasn’t slaughtered doesn’t mean that that wasn’t the intention of the Ottoman Empire because the fact that Hitler wasn’t 

able to exterminate every Jew doesn’t mean that wasn’t his intention and that that wasn’t a genocide. 

The reason this resolution comes up year after year is because 

this Congress fails to act upon it. This is an open wound for our 

American Armenian fellow citizens. Our fellow citizens are coming 

to Congress to redress their grievance, and I am prepared to do 

that today. 

There is nothing—I agree with Congressman Smith. I would like 

to see a reconciliation. I would like to see a coming together, and 

there is nothing in either one of these resolutions that would prohibit that from happening. If there is to be reconciliation, so be it, 

let it move forward. That doesn’t take away from what we are 

doing today, what we should have done years ago to get this behind 

us. 

At this point I will yield the balance of my time to Congressman 

Schiff. Thank you. 

Mr. SCHIFF. I thank the gentlelady for yielding, and I would like 

to in the time remaining address some of the arguments that were 

made on the other side. 

There are principally three arguments: One, that there is somehow an open question about whether this is genocide; two, does 

93

this somehow impede an initiative by the Government of Turkey to 

bring closure; and three, what will this do to our relationship with 

Turkey? 

First, as to the genocide, Rafael Lemkin, who was involved, really coined the term ‘‘genocide’’ in 1944, was the earliest proponent 

of the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, invoked the Armenian case as the definitive example of genocide in the 20th century. Indeed, the first resolution on genocide 

adopted by the U.N. At Lemkin’s urging in 1946 was one that recognized the Armenian Genocide as the type of crime that the U.N. 

Intended to prevent and punish by codifying existing standards. 

As Mr. Menendez pointed out, among the historians there is no 

dispute about this. And indeed, probably it will come as no surprise, the weakest arguments we have heard here today have been 

based on the facts. There is really no debate about the facts. 

So what about this supposed initiative by the Government of 

Turkey to extend a branch to Armenia? Well, let’s look at the facts. 

A group of Turkish historians organized a conference in June of 

this year at Bosporus University in Istanbul to talk about the genocide, and you know what happened? The Justice Minister of Turkey 

took to the floor of Parliament and denounced them as traitors. 

This is a man who has the authority to prosecute people, as indeed 

they are doing now with the case of Orhan Pamuk, the novelist 

who raised this issue. And not surprising, when the Justice Minister, who has the power to prosecute people for being traitors, 

called the organizers of this conference traitors, the conference was 

canceled. Where was the initiative of the Turkish Government 

then? Or when the government decided to charge Orhan Pamuk, 

Turkey’s most famous novelist, for talking about the murder of a 

million Armenians, where was the Turkish Government then? 

Indeed, there are promising signs among individual Turkish 

scholars, but the government has been part of the problem, not 

part of the solution. 

Finally, what about the argument about the effect on the United 

States-Turkey relationship? As my colleagues have pointed out, in 

March 2003, only 3 weeks before the coalition invaded Iraq, the 

Turkish Parliament rejected a resolution authorizing the deployment of United States forces to Turkey——

Chairman HYDE. The gentleman’s time has expired. Mr. Engel of 

New York. 

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I will support the legislation, as I have in the past. I want to 

state, though, that one of the things that seems to be happening 

here is we are mixing the relations between the United States and 

Turkey with what happened to the Armenians many, many years 

ago. I don’t think they should be mixed. I think that the United 

States and Turkey are allies and share a strong relationship, and 

there are many, many things that Turkey is doing to promote freedom and lessen tension in the Middle East that I appreciate, and 

I think that all of us appreciate. And I think that that needs to be 

said because I don’t think that we are here to demonize a country 

that has been a strong supporter of the United States and a strong 

supporter of peace in the Middle East. 

94

However, we really need to also come to grips with reality, and 

the reality is that this April marked the 90th year anniversary of 

the attempted annihilation of the Armenian race that occurred in 

the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. And it has been said many 

times, but I will repeat it, one and a half million Armenians were 

killed and over half a million more survivors were exiled. The majority of Americans of Armenian ancestry come from families who 

survived the genocide, and there are still a small number of survivors today who live in the United States and who call upon us 

to remember and learn from this crime against humanity and to 

fight against attempts to suppress the teaching of this history in 

our country and abroad. 

The U.S. National Archives is replete with thousands of pages 

documenting the premeditated extermination of the Armenian people, including numerous American diplomatic eyewitnesses. This 

Committee has already heard that the U.S. Ambassador to the 

Ottoman Empire during the Armenian Genocide, Henry Morgenthau, cabled the Department of State on July 16, 1915 stating that 

a campaign of race extermination is in progress under a pretext of 

reprisal against rebellion. 

In 1981, President Reagan issued a Presidential proclamation 

recognizing genocide. In 1975, 1984 and 2000, the full House of 

Representatives passed resolutions commemorating the Armenian 

Genocide. There is also a growing international trend to acknowledge it as well. 

The European Parliament resolved that Turkey must come to 

terms with the Ottoman genocidal legacy as part of its European 

Union accession process, yet more progress remains to occur. As recently reported by the Washington Post, New York Times and Wall 

Street Journal, Orhan Pamuk, renowned Turkish novelist, is now 

being prosecuted for simply stating that one million Armenians 

were killed. He faces 3 years in jail. 

This legislation, I believe, will ultimately promote regional stability because Turkey, by coming to terms with the Armenian 

Genocide, puts it behind it and it will remove a source of regional 

tension, lessening the level of distrust and opening the door to the 

normalization of relations with Armenia. 

Many of the tactics that were employed by the Ottoman Empire 

are now being used in Darfur today. I think it is important that 

we recognize this, and I think it is important that we continue to 

fight against this sort of thing and if not the U.S. Congress, who 

then will do it? 

So I think in conclusion we really must pass this legislation because it is the right thing to do. We remember the genocide for the 

same reasons we remember other genocides that took place in this 

century, the past century and the century before that, and in fact 

at all times. We must never forget to ensure that such wrongs do 

not happen again in the future, and that is why we need to acknowledge the past. I really hope that Turkey can do this, can step 

forward and can put this behind them, because as I said in the 

opening of my statement, United States-Turkish relations—we 

haven’t agreed on everything, but Turkey is a democracy and so is 

the United States and from time to time there will be disagreements, but I think that both countries cherish the relationship that 

95

we have as allies, and I think in the long run that Turkey’s acknowledgement of this will help Turkey in many, many ways. 

I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back. 

Chairman HYDE. Mr. Berman of California. 

Mr. BERMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Many of the previous speakers who support this resolution, as I 

do, have spoken with great knowledge and with eloquence about 

the historical circumstances that led us to support this resolution. 

Abe Lincoln used to tell the story, when asked if you call a 

sheep’s tail a leg, how many legs does a sheep have, and Lincoln 

would say four because calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it one. The 

fact that so many Turkish people and the Turkish Government and 

the representatives of the Turkish Government say that our support for this resolution is a slap in the face to Turkey doesn’t make 

it one. One can feel very strongly about the importance of our relationship, understand the tremendous role Turkey has played in its 

alliance with the United States, that what Turkey has accomplished internally, it has moved to greater and greater democracy, 

transparency, its efforts to deal with some of the serious human 

rights problems that have occurred in the past, and the conflicts 

and tensions which it faces now and support them in the resolution 

of those conflicts and tensions, and still support this resolution. 

Support of this resolution is not a rejection of Turkish interests or 

an attack on that relationship. 

I am going to support the resolution. I am going to yield the balance of my time so he can finish his point to a gentleman who I 

think deserves tremendous congratulations for his doggedness in 

pushing and researching and understanding and speaking on behalf of this issue, the gentleman from California, Mr. Schiff. 

Mr. SCHIFF. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and really the 

gentleman’s remarks get to the gravamen of the opposition that we 

have heard in the Committee and that this will somehow be an irreparable breach with Turkey. I don’t think that is the case, and 

I congratulate my colleague for his observations. 

Our long-standing relationship with Turkey is vital to our interests. Turkey’s strategic location, its membership in NATO make it 

a particularly valuable ally at this time in history. But my point 

in going through some of the facts of Turkey’s decision, its vote in 

its Parliament against allowing the deployment of United States 

forces to the open northern front in Iraq is this—and I want to remind Members how hard the Administration engaged in diplomacy 

to gain Turkey’s support for that second front, which would have 

made the job of our troops a lot easier. That was rejected, and that 

at the time produced a temporary rift in our relationship. But despite the importance of that to the United States, relations with 

Ankara have survived. That is my point, not that we should punish 

Turkey, but that our relationship has survived. And why has it 

survived? Because there is a mutual interest that transcended even 

that interest of the United States. 

Look, this is a country where the Chairman of the Human Rights 

Commission in the Turkish Government has condemned the United 

States for genocide in Iraq, and this is the country we are concerned about acknowledging the murder of a million and a half 

people. 

96

Our relationship with Turkey will go on, but it has to go on on 

the basis of a mutual respect. It has to go on on the basis of a common recognition of the historic facts. There is no real doubt about 

those historic facts, and I think that our equivocation in the face 

of a murder of a million and a half people impairs our ability to 

stand as a moral authority around the world. 

I heard none of the arguments against recognition of Darfur as 

genocide, and all of the arguments could have been made except 

one, that it would breach our relationship with an important ally 

of Sudan. All of the other arguments, well, we don’t really know 

exactly all the facts, well, not all the people were killed, all those 

arguments could have been made with Darfur but they haven’t. 

The reality is there is only one argument against this resolution 

and it is the opposition of the Turkish Government. But the European Union has acknowledged this. Is that causing an irreparable 

rift? No. Turkey is trying desperately to become a member of that 

same organization that has the willingness to recognize the facts 

of the genocide. 

Chairman HYDE. The gentleman’s time has again expired. 

Mr. Rohrabacher of California. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

I have been listening to the various speakers today. I think 

many—I would like to congratulate the leadership, but also my fellow Members on the way this debate has been conducted, and 

points that need to be made have been made. I especially would 

like to just say that the remarks from our colleague from Florida, 

talking about how important Turkey has been to us in the past. 

It struck home with me in the sense that in my lifetime Turkey 

has played such an important positive role for the people of the 

United States. My father fought in Korea, and the Turkish Government, Turkish people were with us in Korea. They supported our 

efforts during the Cold War. U2s took off from Turkey in order to 

cross over to the Soviet to give us information before we had satellites that could give us that information during the Cold War. 

During the time when Saddam Hussein was in power after the 

first Gulf War, Turkey did provide us the base that was necessary 

for us to maintain the protection of the no-fly zone that permitted 

the Kurds to have a relative period of time of peace. Even though 

the Turkish Government thought that that might be against their 

own interest, they looked at the interest of the whole region and 

took that into perspective. 

So as we vote on this, we are not voting—those of us who will 

be supporting both of these resolutions, which I will, and as Mr. 

Radanovich and Mr. Schiff have done a great job in making sure 

they talk about the crimes of the Ottoman Empire being recognized 

by the current Government of Turkey, which is the right way to 

put it, no matter how good a friend you have it does not behoove 

us to overlook certain facts. And with Mr. Burton’s comments in 

mind as well, let me note that what Mr. Burton said does not 

eliminate the fact that a million or more innocent civilians were 

massacred by Turkish troops during the time period that we are 

talking about. And whether you call that massacre a genocide or 

not, it was a crime against humanity and a crime against the Armenian people. 

97

So today let us vote to treat a friend as a friend, being frank and 

truthful with that friend, and hope that the Turkish people do not 

take offense at the fact that we are being honest about it, and they 

should be honest as well. 

One last note, by not being honest in the past we have given the 

Turkish people a way not to admit the truth, and then you end up 

having things happen like the jailing of Orhan Pamuk, who Mr. 

Royce mentioned earlier on. This is not a good trend, and we 

should never ever accept that a novelist, a writer is being arrested 

in Turkey. And what is he being arrested for? Because he is exposing or at least wanting to discuss openly this crime that we are 

talking about today. Well, we should be on the side of that writer, 

and we should be on the side of truth, and the truth is that at least 

a million people, civilians, were massacred, and we need to recognize that and have the Turks recognize that and then move on. 

Mr. SCHIFF. Would the gentleman yield for 30 seconds? 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I certainly will. 

Mr. SCHIFF. I thank my colleague very much for his comments. 

I was only going to say—and I didn’t know which way my colleague 

was going to comment on this—if necessary I was going to bring 

this out and ask what would Ronald Reagan do, given the choice 

between a clear, moral, declarative statement and the possibility of 

offending even an ally, but you probably know the answer. In April 

1981, President Reagan said, like the genocide of the Armenians 

before it and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it, and 

like too many such other persecutions of too many other peoples, 

the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten. 

And I yield back to the gentleman. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Yes. President Reagan stood on principle, 

and he had some good speech writers. 

So anyway, let me note that it is always good to base your policies on truth and principle. Ronald Reagan did that and ended the 

Cold War. The Turks were with us in the Cold War. Let’s not forget that, but that doesn’t negate the truth that we are acknowledging today. So I will be voting for both of the resolutions. 

Mr. Radanovich, Mr. Schiff, thank you very much. 

Chairman HYDE. Ms. Watson of California. 

Ms. WATSON. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. 

This debate is not about whether or not Turkey is a loyal and 

valuable ally. Of course they are. This is not about Turkey. This 

is about the United States. So I can associate myself with some of 

the remarks that Congressman Meeks made. 

This is about whether we as Americans are going to officially acknowledge one of the most heinous crimes the world has ever 

known. 1.5 million Armenians were murdered in an organized, systematic fashion. This is about a documented fact, and there is no 

way that you can erase that factual history. And denying it, even 

by failing to call it what it is, genocide, is a disservice to the United 

States of America. 

We recognize the atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein in 

Iraq and invaded a sovereign nation because of them. We did not 

find any weapons of mass destruction, originally the impetus for 

going in, but we did take a horrendous, murderous leader down. So 

98

America, this Committee, this Congress has a moral imperative to 

support these two resolutions. 

I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman HYDE. I thank the gentlelady. 

We have a reporting quorum, so I would urge prayerfully the 

Members to be succinct and brief, although I only have—I have 

three more that want to talk, and I appeal to your sense of proportion. 

Mr. Sherman of California. 

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I will support both resolutions. Mr. 

Schiff—I recognize the leadership of Mr. Radanovich on this issue, 

and I want to take the opportunity to recognize Adam Schiff’s leadership and tireless work on behalf of recognizing the first genocide 

of the 20th century. 

Ignoring genocide begets genocide. The words of Adolf Hitler 

have been quoted in this room when he emboldens those around 

him to commit genocide by saying who remembers the Armenians. 

Ignoring genocide is the last act of a genocide. Genocide destroys 

a people, destroys their memory, and then the denial expunges the 

memory of the expungement. 

It is an act of friendship to the people of Turkey that we pass 

these resolutions because by recognizing a country’s past it can 

build for the future. Where would modern Germany be if it was 

ruled by a government denying the Holocaust? 

As Mr. Meeks pointed out, we in our own country have some terrible things in our past. We improve America when we recognize 

the outrages of slavery. And as to the issue of genocide, let’s face 

it, our treatment of certain Native American peoples adds up to 

genocide of those individual peoples and tribes. Where would we be 

as a country if we denied our past? And obviously acknowledging 

our past can only make us better. 

United States is in a unique position in the world as the world’s 

only superpower. Human nature being what it is, when one superpower—when there is only one superpower, there is a tendency of 

the rest of humanity or the rest of the people within the region to 

get together and try to knock off whoever is on top of the hill. It 

is only a country that has the respect of the world that will be allowed to continue as the world’s only superpower, and only a country that bases its decisions on truth rather than on political expediency can enjoy world leadership for very long. 

Now, we are told that Turkey is an ally and therefore we should 

defeat this resolution. Let me put forward a hypothetical. What if 

some future Government of Germany continues to be an ally of the 

United States, a very valuable ally, a richer country than Turkey 

is ever likely to be, but insists that we tear down the Holocaust 

Museum here in Washington because they have changed their view 

of history? Clearly that would be wrong for Germany and it would 

be wrong for the United States. 

Whether it is the biggest economy in Europe or whether it is a 

strategically placed Mediterranean country, no country should tell 

the United States to ignore genocide whenever it has occurred. 

Now our relationship with Turkey is complex. Mr. Lantos and 

Mr. Schiff have pointed out some of the actions of the Turkish Government that have been harmful to us, and I would point out not 

99

only did Turkey not allow our troops to go through their territory 

to go into Iraq from the north but they kept us in a position with 

a 4th Infantry Division who was sitting off the Turkish coast, not 

deployed from the north, not deployed from the south, and that was 

our best division. Had we established law and order in Baghdad 

and other places initially, who knows whether we would face the 

difficulties we face today. 

But Mr. Wexler has pointed out some of the positive aspects of 

Turkey’s behavior in the past, and then he told us, and I think he 

showed some real wisdom in this, that we need to be balanced in 

our view of our relationship with Turkey, recognize when they have 

been helpful, and—if I jotted his words down correctly—criticize 

Turkey when they have done something wrong. 

Well, it is time for us to criticize the Ottoman Empire for its first 

genocide of the 20th century. That is why we ought to pass these 

two resolutions. But it is not enough to pass the resolutions out of 

the Committee. We have done that before. We have got to bring the 

resolutions to the Floor. In this room, in solemn terms for 9 years 

now I voted for resolution after resolution, applauding democracy 

in this country, condemning an absence of democracy in that country, demanding democracy, and those resolutions, whether they be 

in Africa or Asia or Latin America, regardless of the particular 

country involved, all of those resolutions will ring hollow unless we 

practice democracy as to these two resolutions. 

Chairman HYDE. The gentleman’s time is expired. 

Mr. SHERMAN. That is why I would hope that we bring these to 

the Floor in regular order and not as a suspension. I yield back. 

Chairman HYDE. Mr. Fortenberry of Nebraska. 

Mr. FORTENBERRY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

As a new Member of Congress, you are very often in a difficult 

position of responding to the past in a framework that you did not 

create, and without having prepared remarks at the beginning of 

the hearing, nonetheless I am compelled to speak. 

I have listened very carefully to the debate here. Many good 

points have been made on both sides, and I leave myself with asking the simple question: What will help heal the situation? What 

will help acknowledge the horrors of the past, but leave us with the 

hope of reconciliation for the future? What is most prudential? Do 

these resolutions potentially drive a further wedge between the two 

groups and us or not? Those are very hard questions, and I think 

there has been very good debate on both sides. 

I do think that there been one consideration that has not been 

mentioned. We considered these two resolutions together, but they 

have subtle distinctions. The first is a more aggressive public pronouncement that externalizes this issue in a way that may be disruptive. 

The spirit of the second resolution, however, is to sensitize our 

own foreign policy dispositions regarding the historical events in 

Armenia, and that certainly may be helpful. This is a distinction 

with a difference. Thank you. 

Chairman HYDE. Mr. Cardoza of California. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be very brief. 

As your admonition rings true to me, I don’t think we will be 

changing anyone’s minds here today at this point. I certainly would 

100

be remiss if I did not associate myself with the comments of my 

colleagues who support these resolutions. I voted for these resolutions in the past as a member of the California Legislature when 

we did pass these resolutions off the floor. 

There are two points I would like to make. One of my colleagues 

said earlier in the debate there was atrocities on both sides. I 

would submit to you that there may or may not have been atrocities on both sides, but it is inexplicable to me how you do not denounce evil and the evil of genocide on every occasion when it becomes known to you. 

The second point is there is a number of Members of the Committee have talked about our relationship with Germany and our 

positive relationship, similarly, with Turkey. I don’t dispute that 

we have a positive relationship with Turkey, but during the Cold 

War, we did not shrink from the fact of denouncing Hitler’s genocide, even though West Germany was our ally. In the same way we 

should not shrink from being able to tell the truth now. And as I 

look into the faces of some of the survivors who are here with us 

today, it reminds me of my grandmother, and my grandmother 

used to tell me as a small child, never fear from telling the truth. 

And today this Committee ought to speak the truth and vote for 

the resolutions. 

I would like to thank Mr. Radanovich and Mr. Schiff for their 

leadership. 

Chairman HYDE. I thank the gentleman. 

We are down——

Mr. WEXLER. Mr. Chairman, I just have a quick—Wexler. I just 

have a quick unanimous consent——

Chairman HYDE. Yes, sir. 

Mr. WEXLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I could get unanimous consent to submit a statement by the Ambassador of Turkey, 

Ambassador Logoglu, dated September 15 for the record? 

Chairman HYDE. Without objection, so ordered. 

[The prepared statement of Ambassador Logoglu follows:]

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23437c.eps
102

Chairman HYDE. Mr. Schiff has negotiated another minute, and 

so I hope he was serious about that and is recognized for 1 minute. 

Mr. SCHIFF. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I won’t take more than 

that. 

I want to begin by thanking you and the Ranking Member for, 

again, your willingness to have this markup knowing it would not 

be easy for any of us. And I just want to conclude with some of the 

thoughts expressed by Winston Churchill in his history, The World 

Crisis. 

In 1915, the Turkish Government began and ruthlessly carried 

out the infamous general massacre and deportation of Armenians 

in Asia Minor. The clearance of the race from Asia Minor was 

about as complete as such an act on a scale so great could well be. 

It is supposed that about 11⁄4 millions of Armenians were involved, 

of whom more than half perished. There is no reasonable doubt 

that this crime was planned and executed for political reasons. The 

opportunity presented itself for clearing Turkish soil of a Christian 

race. The Armenian people emerged from the Great War scattered, 

extirpated in many districts, and reduced, due to massacre, losses 

of war and forced deportations adopted as an easy system of killing, by at least a third. Out of a community of about 21⁄2 millions, 

three-quarters of a million men, women and children had perished. 

But surely this was the end. 

Tragically, this has not been the case. As Elie Wiesel has observed, the denial of genocide is the second injury. And one need 

ask no more than the Armenian community in the United States 

what the trauma of that second injury of denial has meant to them. 

I thank my colleagues for their debate, and I urge their support 

of both resolutions. 

Chairman HYDE. I thank the gentleman. 

The time for debate has expired. I have waited until this point 

before making any comments on the bills before us, and I have 

thought very long and hard, and I have been pulled in both directions by the eloquence of the arguments. I have been very proud 

of this Committee. I have never heard an assemblage of clear 

thinking, well expressed, with passion, and sincerity, and that is 

why this is a great Committee. And I just wanted to say that. 

The overriding purpose of your work and my work in Congress 

is to promote the interests of the United States. The argument has 

been made that these resolutions, if adopted, will be harmful to 

those interests by undermining our relationship with Turkey. This 

is a serious charge and worthy of serious attention. I very much believe the relationship is of great importance to us and the possibility of peace and stability in the volatile regions that Turkey borders, but I don’t believe these resolutions will harm that relationship. They merely recognize the fact that the authorities of the 

Ottoman Empire deliberately slaughtered the majority of the Armenian community in that empire. Denial of that fact cannot be 

justified on the basis of expediency or fear that speaking the truth 

will do us harm. 

Having said this, I want to strongly emphasize neither the Republic of Turkey nor the Turkish people bear responsibility for the 

crimes that undoubtedly took place. Too often, that inaccurate and 

103

even slanderous association is made by accident or design, and we 

must be careful not to give it credence. 

I also want to note and commend the Turkish Government’s recent initiatives to address this issue more forthrightly than has 

been the practice in the past. These are encouraging signs, and I 

hope they are but the first in a series of mutual steps. 

It is commonly supposed that we must choose between recognizing the fact of the massacres and supporting our relationship 

with Turkey, that somehow these things are opposed to one another. I believe that view is profoundly incorrect, and it is actually 

harmful to all the parties. 

The deep animosity between Turkey and Armenia is destructive 

to the interests of both countries, as well as to those of the United 

States, for they make lasting peace and stability in the Caucasus 

virtually impossible. The many barriers between them tower so 

mightily, they are dispiriting to all but the most resolute. However, 

this particular issue is of such profound importance and emotional 

resonance to both countries, I don’t believe either alone can take 

the steps needed to overcome its impregnable walls. 

But to freeze attention on the past is to be imprisoned by it at 

the enormous cost of sacrificing the future. Therefore, I believe it 

is in the interests of the United States and of Turkey and Armenia 

that we take the lead with dealing with this paralyzing legacy, and 

we must start with a recognition of the truth, for there is no possibility that this problem can ever be overcome if we seek to ground 

any solution on silence and forgetting. For as our Lord is quoted 

as saying in the book of St. John, ‘‘You shall know the truth, and 

the truth shall set you free.’’

That is why I will vote to support these resolutions and do so in 

the hope that it will contribute to a lasting peace among the peoples of these ancient, tragic and beautiful lands. 

The question occurs, on the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H. Con. Res. 195 as amended. All those in favor, say aye. 

Aye. 

Opposed, say no. No. 

The ayes have it. 

And the Chair will now entertain a motion that the resolution, 

H. Con. Res. 195, be reported as amended by the amendment in 

the nature of a substitute. 

Mr. LANTOS. I so move, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman HYDE. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. 

Opposed, nay. No. 

The ayes have it, and the resolution is adopted——

Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Chairman, on that I request, the ayes—the yeas 

and nays. 

Chairman HYDE. Clerk will call the role. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Leach. 

Mr. LEACH. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Leach votes yes. 

Mr. Smith of New Jersey. 

Mr. SMITH OF NEW JERSEY. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Smith votes yes. 

Mr. Burton. 

Mr. BURTON. No. 

104

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Burton votes no. 

Mr. Gallegly. 

Mr. GALLEGLY. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Gallegly votes yes. 

Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Ms. Ros-Lehtinen votes yes. 

Mr. Rohrabacher. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Rohrabacher votes yes. 

Mr. Royce. 

Mr. ROYCE. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Royce votes yes. 

Mr. King. 

[No response.] 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Chabot. 

Mr. CHABOT. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Chabot votes yes. 

Mr. Tancredo. 

Mr. TANCREDO. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Tancredo votes no. 

Mr. Paul. 

Mr. PAUL. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Paul votes no. 

Mr. Issa. 

[No response.] 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Flake. 

Mr. FLAKE. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Flake votes no. 

Mrs. Davis. 

Mrs. DAVIS. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mrs. Davis votes yes. 

Mr. Green. 

Mr. GREEN. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Green votes yes. 

Mr. Weller. 

Mr. WELLER. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Weller votes yes. 

Mr. Pence. 

Mr. PENCE. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Pence votes yes. 

Mr. McCotter. 

Mr. MCCOTTER. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. McCotter votes yes. 

Ms. Harris. 

Ms. HARRIS. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Ms. Harris votes yes. 

Mr. Wilson. 

[No response.] 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Boozman. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Boozman votes yes. 

Mr. Barrett. 

Mr. BARRETT. No. 

105

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Barrett votes no. 

Mr. Mack. 

Mr. MACK. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Mack votes yes. 

Mr. Fortenberry. 

Mr. FORTENBERRY. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Fortenberry votes no. 

Mr. McCaul. 

[No response.] 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Poe. 

Mr. POE. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Poe votes no. 

Mr. Lantos. 

Mr. LANTOS. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Lantos votes yes. 

Mr. Berman. 

Mr. BERMAN. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Berman votes yes. 

Mr. Ackerman. 

Mr. ACKERMAN. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Ackerman votes yes. 

Mr. Faleomavaega. 

[No response.] 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Payne. 

[No response.] 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Menendez. 

Mr. MENENDEZ. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Menendez votes yes. 

Mr. Brown. 

Mr. BROWN. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Brown votes yes. 

Mr. Sherman. 

Mr. SHERMAN. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Sherman votes yes. 

Mr. Wexler. 

Mr. WEXLER. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Wexler votes no. 

Mr. Engel. 

Mr. ENGEL. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Engel votes yes. 

Mr. Delahunt. 

Mr. DELAHUNT. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Delahunt votes yes. 

Mr. Meeks. 

Mr. MEEKS. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Meeks votes yes. 

Ms. Lee. 

Ms. LEE. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Ms. Lee votes yes. 

Mr. Crowley. 

Mr. CROWLEY. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Crowley votes yes. 

Mr. Blumenauer. 

Mr. BLUMENAUER. Aye. 

106

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Blumenauer votes yes. 

Ms. Berkley. 

Ms. BERKLEY. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Ms. Berkley votes yes. 

Mrs. Napolitano. 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Ms. Napolitano votes yes. 

Mr. Schiff. 

Mr. SCHIFF. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Schiff votes yes. 

Ms. Watson. 

Ms. WATSON. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Ms. Watson votes yes. 

Mr. Smith of Washington. 

Mr. SMITH OF WASHINGTON. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Smith of Washington votes no. 

Ms. McCollum. 

Ms. MCCOLLUM. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Ms. McCollum votes yes. 

Mr. Chandler. 

Mr. CHANDLER. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Chandler votes no. 

Mr. Cardoza. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Cardoza votes yes. 

Chairman Hyde. 

Chairman HYDE. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Chairman Hyde votes yes. 

Chairman HYDE. Does anyone wish to change their vote? Mr. 

Issa? 

Mr. ISSA. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Issa votes yes. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. No. 

Chairman HYDE. Anybody else? 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Boozman. 

Chairman HYDE. Mr. Boozman, you change your vote to no? 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Yes. 

Chairman HYDE. Mr. Wilson has not voted yet. 

Mr. Wilson would like to vote yes. 

Are there any other changes? If not, the Clerk will announce the 

rollcall. 

Ms. RUSH. On this vote there are 35 yeses and 11 noes. 

Chairman HYDE. And the motion is adopted. 

The Chair will now entertain a motion that the resolution, H. 

Res. 316, be reported to the House. 

Mr. SMITH OF NEW JERSEY. Mr. Chairman, I move the Committee report H. Res. 316 favorably to the House. 

Chairman HYDE. All right. The question occurs on the motion to 

report the resolution favorably as amended. All in favor, say aye. 

Aye. 

Chairman HYDE. Opposed, nay. No. 

The ayes have it, and the——

Mr. SMITH OF NEW JERSEY. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, I ask 

for recorded vote. 

107

Chairman HYDE. Who is? Mr. Smith. The clerk will call the roll. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Leach. 

Mr. LEACH. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Leach votes yes. 

Mr. Smith of New Jersey. 

Mr. SMITH OF NEW JERSEY. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Smith of New Jersey votes yes. 

Mr. Burton. 

Mr. BURTON. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Burton votes no. 

Mr. Gallegly. 

Mr. GALLEGLY. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Gallegly votes yes. 

Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Ms. Ros-Lehtinen votes yes. 

Mr. Rohrabacher. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Rohrabacher votes yes. 

Mr. Royce. 

Mr. ROYCE. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Royce votes yes. 

Mr. King. 

[No response.] 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Chabot. 

Mr. CHABOT. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Chabot votes yes. 

Mr. Tancredo. 

Mr. TANCREDO. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Tancredo votes yes. 

Mr. Paul. 

Mr. PAUL. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Paul votes no. 

Mr. Issa. 

Mr. ISSA. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Issa votes yes. 

Mr. Flake. 

Mr. FLAKE. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Flake votes no. 

Mrs. Davis. 

Mrs. DAVIS. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mrs. Davis votes yes. 

Mr. Green. 

Mr. GREEN. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Green votes yes. 

Mr. Weller. 

Mr. WELLER. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Weller votes yes. 

Mr. Pence. 

Mr. PENCE. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Pence votes yes. 

Mr. McCotter. 

Mr. MCCOTTER. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. McCotter votes yes. 

108

Ms. Harris. 

Ms. HARRIS. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Ms. Harris votes yes. 

Mr. Wilson. 

Mr. WILSON. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Wilson votes yes. 

Mr. Boozman. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Boozman votes yes. 

Mr. Barrett. 

Mr. BARRETT. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Barrett votes no. 

Mr. Mack. 

Mr. MACK. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Mack votes yes. 

Mr. Fortenberry. 

Mr. FORTENBERRY. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Fortenberry votes yes. 

Mr. McCaul. 

[No response.] 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Poe. 

Mr. POE. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Poe votes no. 

Mr. Lantos. 

Mr. LANTOS. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Lantos votes yes. 

Mr. Berman. 

Mr. BERMAN. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Berman votes yes. 

Mr. Ackerman. 

Mr. ACKERMAN. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Ackerman votes yes. 

Mr. Faleomavaega. 

[No response.] 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Payne. 

Mr. PAYNE. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Payne votes yes. 

Mr. Menendez. 

Mr. MENENDEZ. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Menendez votes yes. 

Mr. Brown. 

Mr. BROWN. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Brown votes yes. 

Mr. Sherman. 

Mr. SHERMAN. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Sherman votes yes. 

Mr. Wexler. 

Mr. WEXLER. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Wexler votes no. 

Mr. Engel. 

Mr. ENGEL. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Engel votes yes. 

Mr. Delahunt. 

Mr. DELAHUNT. Aye. 

109

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Delahunt votes yes. 

Mr. Meeks. 

Mr. MEEKS. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Meeks votes yes. 

Ms. Lee. 

Ms. LEE. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Ms. Lee votes yes. 

Mr. Crowley. 

Mr. CROWLEY. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Crowley votes yes. 

Mr. Blumenauer. 

Mr. BLUMENAUER. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Blumenauer votes yes. 

Ms. Berkley. 

Ms. BERKLEY. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Ms. Berkley votes yes. 

Mrs. Napolitano. 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mrs. Napolitano votes yes. 

Mr. Schiff. 

Mr. SCHIFF. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Schiff votes yes. 

Ms. Watson. 

Ms. WATSON. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Ms. Watson votes yes. 

Mr. Smith of Washington. 

Mr. SMITH OF WASHINGTON. No. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Smith of Washington votes no. 

Ms. McCollum. 

Ms. MCCOLLUM. Aye. 

Ms. RUSH. Ms. McCollum votes yes. 

Mr. Chandler. 

Mr. CHANDLER. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Chandler votes yes. 

Mr. Cardoza. 

Mr. CARDOZA. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Mr. Cardoza votes yes. 

Chairman Hyde. 

Chairman HYDE. Yes. 

Ms. RUSH. Chairman Hyde votes yes. 

On this vote there are 40 yeses and 7 noes. 

Chairman HYDE. The ayes have it. The motion to report as favorably is adopted. And without objection, the staff is directed to make 

any technical and conforming changes. 

And the Committee stands adjourned. Thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 3:45 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 

(111)

A P P E N D I X 

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE JOSEPH CROWLEY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN

CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK

H. CON. RES. 195

• Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you for holding this mark up on a very important piece of legislation introduced by Representative Schiff—urging Turkey to 

recognize the systematic murder of 1.5 million Armenians committed by the Ottoman Empire as genocide. • This tragic occurrence perpetrated against the Armenian people between 1915 

and 1923 by the Ottoman Empire is of great concern to me and members of my 

constituency. • Unfortunately, the Turkish government has failed to recognize these brutal atrocities as acts of genocide. 

• Even the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau protested 

the murder of Armenians to the Ottoman Empire. His protest went unheeded. 

• Let me repeat, 1.5 million people dead, and more then a million others displaced 

from their homes. 

• The definition of genocide is the systematic, planned annihilation of a racial, political or cultural group. 

• I ask—do all the parameters of the definition fit this situation? The answer will 

always be YES. 

• This bill clearly puts the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the Ottoman 

Empire—NOT TURKEY. 

• I believe that it is not in our foreign policy interests to disrupt the strategic relationship that we maintain with Turkey. That is not the goal of this resolution. 

• The goal is, however, to commemorate and honor those who were slaughtered during this campaign. 

• I believe that by failing to recognize such barbaric acts, one becomes complicit in 

them. 

• The Turkish government needs to come to terms with the past and work towards 

improving the future. 

• For that reason I am in support and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of moving this resolution to the House floor. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE JOSEPH CROWLEY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN

CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK

H. RES. 316

• Mr. Chairman I would like to thank you for holding this very important Mark 

up on the Armenian Genocide Resolution introduced by Representative Radanovich 

• This hearing shows that the United States is still engaged in resolving a long history of denial, and is still looking to correct how it refers to the Armenian Genocide. 

• April 24, 2005 marked the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, when the 

Ottoman Empire murdered 1.5 million Armenians and exiled over a million others. 

• Over a number of years, Congress has attempted to pass the Armenian Genocide 

Resolution to formally recognize this atrocity as genocide. However, with all the 

efforts put in, this bill has yet to become law. 

112

• NOW is the time to pass this resolution and send a strong message that crimes 

against humanity will not be tolerated. • With many countries already recognizing this event as genocide, I ask why the 

U.S. is dragging its feet. • I represent many Armenian-Americans who deserve to have recognition regarding 

the senseless acts committed by the Ottoman Empire on their ancestors. • This resolution would call upon the President of the United States to formally recognize the deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million people as genocide and state so 

in his annual message. • The Armenian-American community has waited too long to receive justice. This 

resolution would provide that justice they seek. • Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I stand with the Armenian-American community and urge my colleagues to approve this resolution for House floor 

consideration. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, A REPRESENTA- TIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY AND VICE CHAIRMAN, COM- MITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

H. RES. 409

• Zimbabwe is a nation that even recently was an economic success and example 

to other nations in Africa. However, the serious mismanagement of that country’s 

economy has reduced Gross National Income to the levels last seen in 1953. • When the Government of Zimbabwe began its so-called Operation Murambatsvina 

on May 19th, it was supposed to be a limited operation to end the parallel market, 

but has developed into the most destructive campaign that country has seen in 

its post-independence history. • There are estimates or as many as 700,000 displaced persons during that country’s winter months. Approximately 46,000 people have been arrested. More than 

300,000 children are unable to attend school due to being displaced or because 

they have to care for siblings or older relatives in distress. • By all accounts, this operation has made existing social problems much worse. 

Non-governmental organization representatives told us there are now two million 

widows, 1.5 million orphans, 500,000 children with only one surviving parent and 

8,000 households headed by children. • While many still recall Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s critical role in winning independence for his country, we must hold him accountable for the devastation he has more recently brought upon his country’s citizens. Whatever he has 

achieved in the past, he is furiously undoing his legacy in the present. • My Subcommittee held a hearing on Zimbabwe’s situation and U.S. policy toward 

that country last April. We were dissatisfied with the state of U.S. engagement. 

It isn’t that the State Department is not working on this issue, but we still lack 

creative ways to address and resolve this crisis. • Some Members joined me several weeks ago in writing to Secretary Rice to complain about the slow process of engagement with Congress on finding a solution 

to this issue. The response we recently received still indicates a failure to think 

outside the box on this important issue. • I remain committed to working with my colleagues in Congress and the Administration to come up with a policy that will allow us to end the social, political and 

economic crisis in Zimbabwe and set this once-prosperous nation back on the road 

to success. • I strongly support this resolution and ask my colleagues to join me in voting for 

House Resolution 409. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE BARBARA LEE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN

CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

H.R. 1409

(Chairman Hyde will ask unanimous consent to consider H.R. 1409 and deem your 

amendment to be adopted. Once Mr. Hyde has spoken and Mr. Lantos has spoken 

you should seek recognition to speak on the bill.)

• Mr. Chairman I’m pleased to offer my bill H.R. 1409, The Assistance for Orphans 

and Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2005. 

• Mr. Chairman we have been working on this bill with you and Ranking Member 

Lantos and your staffs for over a year and a half now. It is a bipartisan-bicameral 

113

compromise agreement that we have hammered out between ourselves and the 

Senate, including Senator Lugar and Senator Boxer. And I’m happy to say that 

the efforts of our staff and the efforts of the many committed advocates and 

NGO’s who support this bill, have gotten us over 120 bipartisan co-sponsors. 

• So I want to specifically thank Matt McLean on your staff Mr. Chairman, and 

Pearl Alice Marsh on your staff Mr. Lantos for their help in putting this bill together. And I also want to thank our advocates and NGO’s, including the Global 

AIDS Alliance, the Elizabeth Glaser Foundation, Save the Children, RESULTS, 

and the many, many others who helped make this bill a reality. 

• Quite simply, H.R. 1409 will better coordinate and address the ever-growing problem of orphans and vulnerable children in the developing world. As of 2004, an 

estimated 143 million children were living as orphans throughout Sub-Saharan 

Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. 

• The rapid growth of the HIV/AIDS virus in Africa and throughout the world has 

dramatically impacted the number of children who are newly becoming orphans. 

According to UNAIDS today there are over 15 million children living as orphans 

due to HIV/AIDS, the vast majority living in Sub-Saharan Africa. By 2010 there 

will be over 25 million. 

• Today, every 14 seconds another child is orphaned by AIDS. With parents dying 

at an alarming rate, children are left without food, shelter, education, or protection. The global orphan crisis is a profound humanitarian disaster that will be felt 

for decades to come. 

• This bill seeks to address the growing global problem of orphans and vulnerable 

children by providing assistance to support: basic care through the community; 

school food programs; increased primary school enrollment; employment training; 

protection of inheritance rights; psychosocial support; and treatment for children 

living with HIV/AIDS. 

• Together, these activities will be overseen by a Special Advisor for Orphans and 

Vulnerable Children within USAID, a new position which my bill establishes. The 

Special Advisor will be responsible for coordinating, advising and monitoring the 

provision of assistance for orphans and vulnerable children and ensuring proper 

accountability for our programs. 

• The amendments to the bill have been made after careful negotiation with the 

Senate, and would clarify the role of the Special Advisor in focusing specifically 

on orphans and vulnerable children. At the same time minor changes to the bill 

would give USAID some flexibility to aggregate data in its reports to Congress 

rather providing detailed information on each individual grant and program. 

• Currently, resources to address the needs of orphans and vulnerable children are 

spread across various offices and agencies, with a minimum of coordination and 

coherence. As it stands, the bill would not authorize any new funds to carry out 

the activities specified in the bill, so it would have a minimal impact, if any, on 

the treasury. However, it would empower the Special Advisor to ensure that our 

assistance strategies and budgets consider the needs of orphans and vulnerable 

children and help make our efforts unified and coherent. 

• Let me be clear, these programs, which seek to address some of the root causes 

of poverty, and economic, and social dislocation, are critical to ensure the health 

and security of many countries throughout the developing world, and they deserve 

a substantial increase in funding. 

• Many of us on this committee have had the opportunity to travel to Africa, Latin 

America, the Caribbean, Asia and Europe. Many of us have also seen firsthand 

the desperation that orphan and vulnerable children are facing. By passing this 

bill we are taking a small step toward ensuring that these children have a future 

they can look forward to, instead of past that will haunt them. 

• I want to thank you again Mr. Chairman for your commitment to this important 

issue and I very much want to thank Ranking Member Lantos for his work on 

this bill, and for the bipartisan spirit in which we have moved this bill forward. 

I hope that we can continue to work together to quickly move this bill onto the 

floor so that we can pass it and send it to the Senate where they are waiting to 

act on it. 

• Thank you and I yield back. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE BARBARA LEE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN

CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

H.R. 1973

• Mr. Chairman, I seek recognition. 

114

• Mr. Chairman I just want to congratulate Mr. Blumenauer and his staff for his 

dedication and commitment to this critical and important issue, and I want to 

thank you for working with Mr. Blumenauer to bring this bill to committee today. • As a co-sponsor of H.R. 1973, I am a strong believer in providing clean water and 

sanitation systems for developing countries to protect public health and reduce 

the spread of water borne diseases. • According to a recent report by UNICEF & the World Health Organization, 1.1 

billion people worldwide still lack safe water and 2.6 billion have no sanitation. 

In Africa, only 58 per cent of Africans live within 30 minutes walk of an improved 

water source and only 36 percent have access to a basic toilet. • In rural Africa, 19 per cent of women spend more than one hour on each trip to 

fetch water, a back breaking and exhausting chore that often puts them at risk 

of abduction or rape, and robs them of other opportunities to work and learn. 

• Unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene habits play a major role 

in Africa’s high child mortality rate. Each year, diarrhea kills over 700,000 children throughout the continent, and contributes to the problem of chronic malnutrition. 

• I’m pleased to see that the bill makes a special designation for high priority with 

the greatest need for clean water and sanitation systems. Many of these countries 

are in sub-Saharan Africa, and they deserve our strong support. 

• I’m also pleased to see that non-governmental organizations will play a critical 

role in developing and implementing an affordable and equitable safe water and 

sanitation strategy. 

• While the bill also makes a special emphasis to balance funding between urban, 

periurban, and rural areas in the bill, I believe that we should strengthen the reporting requirements in the bill to stress the need for USAID to report to us on 

how our money is being split across these areas. 

• I look forward to working with my colleague Mr. Blumenauer, and with you Mr. 

Chairman, to address this issue either in the committee report or a future conference as this bill moves forward. 

• I encourage my colleagues to support the bill and I yield back. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE BARBARA LEE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN

CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

H. RES. 316 AND H. CON. RES. 195

Thank you Chairman Hyde and Ranking Member Lantos for bringing these bills, 

H.Res. 316 and H.Con.Res. 195 for consideration before the Committee. 

The Armenian Genocide is one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th Century. 

Many political leaders, scholars, and professional organizations are beginning to 

document the truth so that everyone acknowledges and remembers this devastating 

event to the Armenian population. 

But our government and our foreign policy must also be truthful and acknowledge 

what we know to be true—that over a million Armenians were murdered and hundreds of thousands of others displaced and deported. 

And there are still a great number of survivors of the genocide in America and 

many of their children and grandchildren reside throughout the country. They deserve this acknowledgement. Healing must begin, and these resolutions are a step 

forward in that process. 

We must never forget the heinous acts that victimized their families. If we let 

such atrocities be forgotten, then we are in danger of letting them be repeated. 

Unfortunately there is a present day genocide occurring by the government of 

Sudan against the people of Darfur which I too witnessed earlier this year. 

We must do all within our power to ensure atrocities like these never happen 

again. That is why these resolutions are extremely important. 

We must call it what it was—genocide. This is the right thing today, regardless 

of any possible repercussions. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE ROBERT MENENDEZ, A REPRESENTATIVE

IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY

H. RES. 388

Thank you, Chairman Hyde and Ranking Member Lantos, for holding this markup today. I also want to thank my good friend, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, for introducing this important piece of legislation. 

115

Mr. Chairman, I wish I could say I was surprised when the Castro regime again 

arrested members of the Cuban opposition this July. But I wasn’t. 

In Cuba, every opposition member, human rights activist, or citizen who takes 

any step towards democracy is deemed a threat to the Cuban regime. These opposition members must live under a constant threat of arrest and persecution for themselves, and their families. 

In Cuba, we see a persistent, long-term, calculated, and strategic abuse of human 

rights aimed at keeping any opposition from succeeding in Cuba. 

Cuba remains the only dictatorship in our Hemisphere, and Castro must repress 

the opposition to stay in power. 

In July 2005, Castro arrested 24 human rights activists for simply remembering 

those who had been killed by the regime in 1994. And he arrested many more later 

that month who were simply planning on attending a peaceful protest—they hadn’t 

even actually attended the event yet. 

But this is not the only recent example of Castro’s brutal repression. In March 

2003, the Cuban regime conducted one of the most repressive and violent actions 

against dissidents in recent history. We all remember how, with no provocation, 75 

political dissidents were subjected to a farcical judicial process and imprisoned for 

nothing more than expressing a point of view not sanctioned by the Castro regime. 

In May of this year, Cuban opposition leaders organized an historic Assembly on 

the 103rd Anniversary of Cuban independence. When we had the opportunity to recognize that Assembly here in this Committee, I specifically said that we opposed 

any attempt by the Castro regime to repress or punish the organizers and participants of the Assembly, as Castro has done with so many others who have spoken 

out against repression. 

I also made it clear to the Cuban opposition witnesses in our hearing in the subcommittee in March that we expected no retaliation against them for their work on 

behalf of freedom or for their participation in our hearing. 

Unfortunately, it is my understanding that all three of those witnesses were then 

arrested during the July crackdown. While Martha Beatriz Roque and Felix Bonne 

were subsequently released, I believe that Rene Gomez Manzano remains in prison. 

Given the recent arrests, I am still deeply concerned for the safety of all those 

who participated in the May Assembly and those who testified before this Committee. 

Hundreds of political prisoners remain in Castro’s jails today, and the world has 

recognized these injustices. 

In March 2005, Amnesty International released a report on Cuba called, Prisoners 

of conscience: 71 longing for freedom. In this report, Amnesty states that they believe that, ‘‘the charges are politically motivated and disproportionate to the alleged 

offences’’ and specifically note reports of ill-treatment and harsh conditions suffered 

by the prisoners of conscience. 

Unfortunately, my friends in the European Union appear to have been deceived 

by Castro’s conditional release of a few prisoners last year. I cannot understand why 

else they would think there was a reason to soften their diplomatic approach towards Cuba. 

Instead of rewarding Cuba for pretending to take steps towards upholding fundamental civil rights, we should call for the unconditional release of all political prisoners in Cuba. I certainly hope that the European Union will review its policy towards Cuba, as is called for in this resolution. 

And I hope that other multinational organizations, such as the UN Commission 

on Human Rights join the rest of the world in strongly condemning the most recent 

crackdown in July by passing a strongly worded resolution against these violations 

of human and civil liberties, as is also called for in this resolution. 

Mr. Chairman, I know Members do not always agree with one another on issues 

relating to Cuba. And I know that this is, for many of us, a very personal issue. 

But I also know that every one of my colleagues should be willing—and proud—

to vote for this resolution, which simply states that the gross human rights violations committed by the Cuban regime are abhorrent. 

Every one of my colleagues should be willing, and proud, to vote for the right of 

the Cuban people to exercise fundamental political and civil liberties that we enjoy 

here in the United States. 

To my brothers and sisters who suffer in Castro’s jails, to their families and 

friends both here in the United States and Cuba, and to the Cuban people, I say 

that Castro will not succeed in his vain attempt to suppress the spirit of the Cuban 

people. I look forward to the day, which is coming soon, when we will all celebrate 

a free and democratic Cuba. It is the spirit of the Cuban human rights activists and 

their courage that will ultimately be Castro’s downfall. 

116

So I ask each of you to join me in voting yes for this resolution. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE GEORGE RADANOVICH, A REPRESENTATIVE

IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Thank you Mr. Chairman for holding this mark up today on two very important 

resolutions, HRes 316, the Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian 

Genocide Resolution and HConRes 195, commemorating the Armenian Genocide of 

1915–1923. 

HRes. 316, the Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide, calls upon the President to ensure that U.S. foreign policy reflects appropriate 

understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic 

cleansing, and genocide documented in the U.S. record relating to the Armenian 

Genocide and the consequences of the failure to realize a just resolution; and it calls 

for the President’s annual message commemorating the Armenian Genocide to characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians as 

genocide, and to recall the proud history of U.S. intervention in opposition to the 

Armenian Genocide. 

This legislation is an important initiative in the recognition of horrors and the 

worst crime against humanity: genocide. Sending this important human rights message will put members of Congress on record as recognizing the Armenian Genocide 

as we mark the 90th Anniversary of the horrific genocide in Armenia. 

The language in HRes 316 is similar to the language that many of you voted for 

in 2000. The adoption of H. Res. 316 would affirm the proud and groundbreaking 

chapter in U.S. history to halt the Armenian Genocide, and renew our commitment 

to prevent other occurrences of man’s inhumanity to man. I, along with 140 cosponsors of the resolution, ask for your support in commemorating the Armenian Genocide by voting for this resolution. 

Thank you Mr. Chairman.

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