John W. Olver: “each year, on April 24th, we solemnly observe the Armenian Genocide in order to recognize its occurrence, honor the…”

“each year, on April 24th, we solemnly observe the Armenian Genocide in order to recognize its occurrence, honor the memory of those who perished, and educate the public. We remember so that those who still choose to deny the genocide will one day begin the atonement process. More than one million Armenians were systematically abused, deported and killed from 1915 to 1923, between the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of modern Turkey. April 24, 1915 marked the rise of the atrocities. On this night, the Turkish government arrested over 200 Armenian community leaders in Constantinople. Hundreds of similar arrests followed. These leaders were all imprisoned and summarily executed. Thousands of Armenian soldiers in the Ottoman army were disarmed and eventually murdered. After Armenian intellectuals and soldiers were killed, the terror visited every city, town and village in Asia Minor and Turkish Armenia. By 1923, 1,500,000 Armenians were killed and 500,000 were exiled from the Ottoman Empire. There is no doubt that the government was intent upon the destruction of the Armenian people. Despite long-standing international recognition and condemnation, the present-day Republic of Turkey denies the genocide. As the first genocidal event of the 20th century, the Armenian Genocide was a precursor to the Nazi Holocaust and the more recent eruptions of 'ethnic cleansing' in the Balkans.”