Gus Bilirakis: “I, too, rise today to remember one of the most appalling events in human history, the genocide of the Armenian people.…”

“I, too, rise today to remember one of the most appalling events in human history, the genocide of the Armenian people. It shames and saddens me to say that the human race is no stranger to genocide: the great purges in Russia, during which Stalin methodically killed millions of Russians; the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were systematically slaughtered by the Nazis; and less well known but certainly just as significant, the Armenian genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians were exterminated by the Ottoman Turks. I feel a special kinship to the Armenian people. As many know, I am of Greek descent and my ancestors, too, suffered at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. Unfortunately, the Armenians were not as fortunate as their Greek brothers and sisters. Between 1915 and 1923, one and one-half million Armenians were murdered, and hundreds of thousands were driven from their homes by the Ottoman Turks. Today I want to acknowledge this tragedy and remember those Armenians who lost their lives.”