Political Quotes

“Mr. President, at this time every year, we observe Armenian Remembrance Day, when we commemorate the horrific and tragic events that constitute the Armenian Genocide. We also honor those who suffered persecution and lost their lives, and recognize those who survived this dark period in human history. On April 24, 1915, Turkish Ottoman authorities began rounding up and murdering more than 5,000 Armenians, including civic leaders, intellectuals, writers, priests, scientists, and doctors. This systematic campaign of deportation, expropriation, starvation, and other atrocities continued until 1923, resulting in the deaths of nearly 1.5 million Armenians. As U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morganthau, said at the time, ``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.'' The Armenian Day of Remembrance serves to remind us all of how important it is that we look unflinchingly at the atrocities that mankind is capable of, sustained by the ability of our human spirit to overcome such tragedy. The horrific events we remember today constituted the first genocide of the 20th century.…”