Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, as the only Member of Congress of Armenian- Assyrian descent, I rise to commemorate Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, which will be observed next week by the Armenian community in the United States and around the world. On this solemn occasion, we remember the 1.5 million Armenians and hundreds of thousands of Assyrians, Greeks, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, and Maronites who were systematically slaughtered by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923. What all the victims had in common is that they were Christians, and among them members of my own family. To honor my ancestors and all who perished, I worked with so many other Members for nearly three decades to pass a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide. For many years, the conventional wisdom in Washington was that a misguided policy of genocide denial served U.S. geopolitical interests. However, thanks to the determined advocacy of the Armenian-American community, we overcame this entrenched opposition, and in October 2019, the resolution passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 405-11, ending over 100 years of official U.S. silence. As the vote total was announced, I thought my parents, grandparents, and extended family were applauding from Heaven. Now nearly 5 years later, it is important to acknowledge that the fears of the resolution's detractors never materialized.…”