Armenian Genocide

Floor Speech

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE -- (Senate - April 24, 2007)

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, today, on behalf of the Armenian population of Rhode Island, and Armenians around the world, I wish to recognize the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

On April 24, 1915, nationalists in the Ottoman Empire rounded up, deported, and executed 200 Armenian community leaders, writers, thinkers, and professionals in Constantinople, present day Istanbul. Also on that day in Constantinople, 5,000 of the poorest Armenians were massacred in the streets and in their homes. These events sparked an 8-year campaign of tyranny that impacted the lives of every Armenian in Asia Minor. By 1923, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were murdered, and another 500,000 were exiled.

The U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morganthau, Sr., unsuccessfully pleaded President Wilson for intervention. Unfortunately, the United States and the world tragically failed to intervene on behalf of the Armenian people. Ambassador Morganthau would later write in his memoir, ``The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915.''

Today, as a proud supporter of S. Res 106, legislation officially recognizing the Armenian genocide, I urge 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 U.S. record relating to the Armenian genocide. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stated over 50 years after the Armenian genocide that: ``Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere . . . Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.'' The time has come to officially recognize the Armenian genocide.

The United States is proud to have Armenia as an ally in the rebuilding and reconstruction of Iraq. For the past 4 years, Armenian soldiers have supported American and multinational force efforts in Iraq. As part of the Polish-led multinational division in south-central Iraq, Armenians have worked as truckdrivers, bomb detonators, and doctors. Armenia has proclaimed their fight by not allowing others to be left helpless as they were nearly a century ago.

We must study and remember the events of our past in order to be better citizens of tomorrow. In instances such as the Armenian genocide, I call on all nations, not just the United States, to educate their youth to stand against hatred and prejudice of others in order to deter future atrocities against humanity. We should be prepared to take a vigilant stand against similar atrocities, such as the current situation in Darfur, to not let history repeat itself.

We must honor the victims of the Armenian genocide by vowing to never allow the world to stand idle to atrocities against humanity again.

Menk panav chenk mornar. We will never forget.

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