Frank Pallone: “Today, April 24, marks the 81st anniversary of the unleashing of the Armenian genocide, one of the most horrible events…”

“Today, April 24, marks the 81st anniversary of the unleashing of the Armenian genocide, one of the most horrible events of the 20th century and probably in all of human history. Mr. Speaker, each year Members of Congress from both the House and Senate take time to honor the memory of the 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children who were slaughtered during the final years of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. I am proud to continue this congressional tradition today. I am joining with the gentleman from Illinois and other Members from both sides in these 5-minute special orders. Mr. Speaker, between the years 1915 and 1923 in the Ottoman Turkish Empire, there were 1.5 million Armenians slaughtered and another 500,000 forced to leave from their homelands. What happened was not a series of random atrocities but a systematic policy of deportation, separation of family members, slave labor, torture, and murder. Although the killings finally ended in 1923, efforts to erase all traces of the Armenian presence in what is now eastern Turkey continued, such as the changing of geographical names and the destruction of Armenian religious and cultural monuments. This was the first genocide of the 20th century, a precursor to the Nazi Holocaust and the other cases of ethnic cleansing and mass extermination of peoples in our own time. We must call it by its correct name: genocide.”