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Anniversary Of Armenian Genocide

Floor Speech

By: Jim Costa
By: Jim Costa
Date: April 24, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Foreign Affairs


ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE -- (House of Representatives - April 24, 2007)

(Mr. COSTA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 96th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

On March 24, 1915, 300 Armenian leaders were rounded up and deported and killed under the orders from the young Turk Government. And so began the genocide that lasted for 7 years, resulting in an estimated over 1.5 million Armenian deaths. To this day, unfortunately, the Turkish Government denies that this occurred.

Ladies and gentlemen, Members of the House, I just returned from Darfur with a group of our colleagues 2 weeks ago. Over 450,000 people have been killed and millions displaced in Darfur; yet government officials claim there in Darfur and Sudan that there is no genocide, that the situation is overblown.

Yesterday Rwanda, today Darfur. And we can remember the Holocaust.

Clearly, silence is genocide's best ally. It is time that the Congress end this silence and pass the Armenian genocide resolution. The message will be clear: the United States of America will never forget and never stand for those who support genocide.


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