Rob Andrews: “I rise today to join my colleagues in remembrance of the attempt by the Ottoman Empire to systematically eliminate the…”

“I rise today to join my colleagues in remembrance of the attempt by the Ottoman Empire to systematically eliminate the Armenian people. April 24 will be the 79th anniversary of the beginning of this campaign of genocide, which resulted in the death of over 1.5 million Armenians. In remembering this cruel and calculated effort to wipe out the Armenian people and culture, we reinvigorate our commitment to eliminate the practice of genocide forever. It is not enough to simply memoralize the victims of this atrocity. We must ensure that such actions never take place again. As with other such atrocities, there are people who would have us believe that this event never took place. Efforts such as these must never be accepted. The systematic and deliberate murder of a nation, regardless of the political implications, must be recognized by all people who want to rid the world of genocide. We need to use the commemoration of the Armenian genocide to strengthen our conviction that such atrocities will never be repeated.”