Political Quotes

“I rise to observe the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day which takes place on April 24. Each year we remember and honor the victims, and pay respect to the survivors we are blessed to still have with us. During the periods 1915-1918 and 1920-1923, approximately 1.5 million Armenians perished under the rule of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. The Armenian people fell victim to deportation, expropriation, torture, starvation and massacre. We signify April 24, 1915 as the day of remembrance because of the more than 200 Armenian community leaders who were systematically hunted down in Constantinople on this date. The Armenian genocide was the result of a consciously orchestrated government plan. The United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, stated at the time that, 'When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact . . . I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this.'”