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Recognizing the 76th Anniversary Of Armenian Genocide

Senate - April 24, 1991

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, today, April 24, marks the 76th anniversary of the Armenian genocide launched by the leaders of the Ottoman Empire. By recognizing this important day, we send a message to the world that such slaughters must never be forgotten and can never become mere footnotes in history.

Accounts of the Armenian genocide have a frighteningly familiar ring to all of us today. On April 24, 1915, hundreds of Armenian political, intellectual, and spiritual leaders were seized by Ottoman authorities, only to be executed or exiled. For the next 8 years, Ottoman Armenians were forced from their lands into exile in America, Russia, Europe, and the Arab countries. Between 1915 and 1923, it is estimated that 1.5 million of the 2.3 million Ottoman Armenians had either died or had been deported from their homeland, a land which they inhabited for over three millenia.

Unfortunately, there have been repeated attempts to hide this dark moment in history and to deny that it ever happened. We must not let this happen. There is a mountain of evidence proving that the horrors of the Armenian genocide are all too true. The U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morganthau, Sr., repeatedly protested the treatment of Armenians while the British Viscount James Bryce compiled a 684-page report on the massacre with the help of Arnold Toynbee.

Even the allies of the Ottoman Empire were horrified by this brutality. Otto Liman van Sanders, the German military adviser to the Ottoman Empire, personally intervened to prevent the deportation of Armenians from Smyrna in November 1916. Yet, perhaps the most convincing evidence of this tragedy is the trials for war crimes held by a liberal Ottoman government which took power in the aftermath of this massacre. The leaders of the Young Turk government were convicted in absentia for ordering this genocide.

Unfortunately, even in the United States, there has been a willingness to gloss over the entire affair, a willingness to look the other way when acknowledging the truth is inconvenient. Recently, a photograph depicting Armenians hung by Ottoman soldiers was removed from the Ellis Island centennial photo exhibit when a controversy arose. We have to recognize this tragic event for what it truly was, the genocide of the Ottoman Armenians.

Ignoring the Armenian genocide, extraordinary evidence of man's capacity for inhumanity, can open a Pandora's box of selective morality a virtual guarantee that similar tragedy will touch other people in the future. Selective morality only leads to selective genocide. We must never ignore the persecution and slaughter of any people. We now see the tragedy of the Armenians being replayed in Iraq as millions of Kurds flee the reign of terror and as Kurdish refugees die at a rate of 1,000 a day. That is why, with renewed vigor at this time, I urge every Member of the Senate and every individual to set aside time today to reflect on the tragedy of the Armenian and Kurdish people and to make a solemn vow that we must prevent genocide from ever happening again, to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

 


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Armenians for Kerry works in partnership with the Armenian American Democratic Leadership Council (AADLC).

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