S6004 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE May 2, 1995 

I dedicate this statement to those 

who did not survive the first genocide 

of the 20th century. They must never 

be forgotten. 

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THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, today I 

rise to pay tribute to the Armenian 

people on the 80th anniversary of the 

Armenian genocide. April 24, 1915, 

marked the beginning of the systematic elimination of the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire by the 

Turks. It is important to recall this 

horrible chapter in history not only to 

commemorate the courage, strength, 

and energy of the Armenian people, but 

also to ensure that history does not repeat itself. 

Beginning in 1915, the Ottoman Empire carried out a genocidal plot 

against its Armenian minority. From 

1915 to 1923, approximately 1.5 million 

Armenian people, including religious, 

political, and intellectual leaders, lost 

their lives due to starvation, torture, 

and disease. More than 500,000 Armenians were exiled from their homes and 

by the end of 1923, the entire Armenian 

population of Anatolia and Western Armenia had been killed or deported. 

During this bleak period for the Armenian people, hope was temporarily 

restored on May 28, 1918, when Armenian refugees, with the help of volunteers from abroad, defeated a Turkish 

attack and gained freedom. Unfortunately, in 1920 the Soviet Union joined 

with Ottoman Empire forces to attack 

and defeat Armenia, whose people were 

subjugated by these foreign powers for 

the next 70 years. It was not until 1991, 

after the break up of the Soviet Union, 

that the independence of the Armenian 

people was restored and the Republic of 

Armenia was born. 

Although independence has been 

gained, Armenia’s struggle still continues. There have been many efforts 

to deny the Armenian genocide and to 

discredit scholarship on this historical 

event. However, the suffering inflicted 

upon the Armenian people—one of the 

oldest Christian nations in the world—

must not be forgotten or denied. The 

horror of these events must not be concealed, because only through education 

and remembrance can the wounds inflicted by this tragic incident in history be healed. 

It is our duty to salute the Armenian 

people, for it reminds us that we all 

must work together to discourage prejudice and discrimination, to hold 

steadfast to the view that genocide will 

not be tolerated, and to make certain 

that it is never again repeated. 

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THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise 

today to speak of a triple commemoration of horror. April 1995 marked the 

anniversary of both the first and the 

most recent genocide of the 20th century. The first, of course, was the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915. 

The most recent was last year’s slaughter of the Tutsis of Rwanda. 

Chronologically between these two 

grisly events stand the decimation of 

the Ukrainian people by Stalin’s collectivization, the Jewish Holocaust, 

the killing fields of Cambodia, and 

most recently the unspeakable ethnic 

cleansing of Bosnia’s Moslems. 

The precedent for this inhuman chain 

was the Armenian genocide, the 

world’s failure to prevent it, and the 

inability to ensure that it not be denied by future generations. 

From 1915 to 1923, 30 percent of the 

Armenian people were massacred by 

the brutal hand of the Ottoman Turks, 

beginning with the Armenian intellectual and religious elite on April 24, 

1915. Armenian men who had already 

been conscripted into the Ottoman 

Army were put into work battalions 

and then murdered. 

Other Armenians—mostly helpless, 

elderly, women, and children—were 

driven on forced marches into the 

desert. Many of those who withstood 

unimaginable suffering finally succumbed to starvation or illness. 

Sadly, the Armenian massacres have 

been labeled the ‘‘forgotten genocide’’

as a result of a concerted effort to rewrite history. Some who should know 

better assert that the horrid events 

were merely a regrettable sidelight of 

war, not genocide. 

Mr. Chairman, we must not let unseemly quarrels over semantics cloud 

our moral vision or distract us from 

the fundamental point: The world must 

not allow human beings to be killed because of their race, religion, or ethnic 

group. 

It matters little whether or not in 

every case of genocide in this century 

the perpetrators had a master plan for 

annihilation. The crucial, horrifying 

truth is that Armenians were killed because they were Armenians; Jews were 

killed because they were Jews; Gypsies 

were killed because they were Gypsies; 

Tutsis were killed because they were 

Tutsis; and Bosnian Moslems were 

killed because they were Moslems. 

In the 1930’s the international community should have been alerted by 

Hitler’s cynical comment, ‘‘Who today 

remembers the extermination of the 

Armenians?’’ Just as Hitler saw lack of 

historical memory of the Armenian 

genocide as a signal that he could 

carry out with impunity his demented 

genocide of Jews and Gypsies, so too 

must the Hutus in Rwanda have been 

emboldened by the world’s failure to 

stop the vile ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. 

On this 80th anniversary of the Armenian genocide; the 50th anniversary of 

the liberation of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and other Nazi death camps; and 

the first anniversary of the Tutsi genocide, I stand here to tell you that this 

chain must be broken once and for all. 

We must not only remember and 

honor the martyrs, but must also solemnly swear: ‘‘This will never happen 

again.’’

THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, last 

Monday, April 24, marked the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian genocide. I rise today to acknowledge and commemorate this terrible 

chapter in our history, to help ensure 

that it will never be forgotten. 

On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman authorities began rounding up hundreds 

of Armenian political and religious 

leaders throughout Anatolia. Over the 

ensuing months and years, some 1.5 

million Armenians were killed at the 

hands of the Ottoman authorities, and 

hundreds of thousands more were exiled from their homes. For its devastation and barbarism, the Armenian 

genocide stands out as one of the most 

horrific events in human history. 

As the 80th anniversary of the Armenian genocide passes, it is vital that we 

remember and speak out about the systematic persecution and murder of millions of Armenians by the Ottoman 

government. I urge my colleagues to 

join me, the Armenian-American community, and people across the United 

States in commemorating the genocide 

and paying tribute to the victims of 

this crime against humanity. 

Americans, who are blessed with freedom and security, can never allow oppression and persecution to pass without condemnation. By commemorating 

the Armenian genocide, we renew our 

commitment always to fight for human 

dignity and freedom, and we send out a 

message that the world can never allow 

genocide to be perpetrated again. 

Even as we remember the tragedy 

and honor the dead, we also honor the 

living. Out of the ashes of their history, Armenians all across the world 

have clung to their identity and have 

prospered in new communities. Their 

strength and perseverance is a triumph 

of the human spirit, which refuses to 

cede victory to evil. The best retort to 

the perpetrators of oppression and destruction is rebirth, renewal, and rebuilding. Armenians throughout the 

world have done just that, and today 

they do it in their homeland as well. A 

free and independent Armenia stands 

today as a living monument to the resilience of a people. I am proud that 

the United States, through our friendship and assistance, is contributing to 

the rebuilding and renewal of Armenia. 

Let us never forget the victims of the 

Armenian genocide; let their deaths 

not be in vain. We must remember 

their tragedy to ensure that such 

crimes can never be repeated. And as 

we remember Armenia’s dark past, we 

can look with hope to its future, which 

is bright with possibility. 

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MESSAGES FROM THE PRESIDENT 

Messages from the President of the 

United States were communicated to 

mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS