Joe Lieberman: “Today we commemorate the 81st anniversary of the Armenian genocide, a horrendous crime against humanity which cannot be…”

“Today we commemorate the 81st anniversary of the Armenian genocide, a horrendous crime against humanity which cannot be denied. Beginning on April 24, 1915--81 years ago today--the declining Ottoman Empire undertook a systematic effort to kill or drive out the Armenian people. By 1923, more than 1 million Armenians perished as a result of execution, starvation, disease, the harsh environment, and physical abuse. Others were driven from their homeland. The terrible tragedy that befell the Armenian people was the first systematic genocide in this century. Unfortunately, it was not the last. The Nazi Holocaust, Stalin's purges, and the killings of Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge are all further examples of brutality and death carried out in the name of the state. We must remember the Armenian genocide and other abuses of state authority against ethnic minorities. Our memory, our vigilance, is essential to ensuring that these acts do not happen again, to Armenians or any other group.”