Katie Porter: “I commend him for his leadership this evening in bringing the question of Armenian genocide again before the American…”

“I commend him for his leadership this evening in bringing the question of Armenian genocide again before the American people, who must know its history, who must understand its meaning, as he has done so very forcefully this evening. We do mark the 80th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, which did not occur in 1 year, 1915, but lasted over an 8-year period, from 1915 to 1923, during which time the Turks of the Ottoman Empire carried out a systematic policy of eliminating its Christian Armenian minority. There are those who would say we should not offend our Turkish allies by using the word genocide, but let us call it what it was. It was a genocide, a most horrible genocide, resulting in the deaths of over a million and one-half people, resulting in 500,000 Armenians being exiled as well, and eradicating the Armenian historic homeland from Turkey. The horrors of this genocide rank as one of the most heinous violations of human rights in all of human history. Let us call it what it was, and is.”