Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 296, which I introduced along with Representative Bilirakis to recognize and commemorate the Armenian genocide. This is a vote that I have fought for 19 years to cast. My wonderful colleagues, Anna Eshoo and Jackie Speier, have fought far longer than I have. It is one that tens of thousands of my constituents, my Armenian American constituents, have waited decades to see. It is a moment that so many have worked and struggled and prayed for, a moment when the House of Representatives refused to be enlisted in the cause of genocide denial. This April would have marked the 104th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, the systematic murder of 1.5 million Armenians, and the displacement of millions more by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. Many other religious and ethnic minorities in the Ottoman Empire met similar fates, among them the Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and others. More than a century later, it is our solemn responsibility to remember those who were lost, to seek justice and restitution, and to educate Americans and those around the world about the crime of genocide. The facts of the genocide are horrific and undisputed by historians. They were recorded by American diplomats serving in the Ottoman Empire at the time who bore witness in official cables to the annihilation of the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire, a crime that at the time had no name.…”