Benjamin Gilman: “on this occasion each year we remember the terrible events that took place in Ottoman Turkey 84 years ago. While the…”

“on this occasion each year we remember the terrible events that took place in Ottoman Turkey 84 years ago. While the rise of independent Armenia just 8 years ago serves as a clear symbol of the Armenian nation's will to survive, the tragic events that occurred over 80 years ago should not be forgotten--and have not been forgotten. Beginning in 1915, the decaying Ottoman Empire, in a final struggle against its own disintegration, engaged in a genocidal campaign of executions and attacks against many of its ethnic Armenian residents in a vain effort to turn the tide of the First World War. Those attacks, while failing to turn the tide of war, resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of lives of innocent men, women and children. This special order today honors those victims and commemorates their untimely deaths. Mr. Speaker, as I have said on earlier occasions, I am hopeful that, as we today honor the memory of those who lost their lives long before the Armenian nation regained its independence, we can nonetheless look forward to that day when the new, independent Republic of Armenia and its people will live in peace with their neighbors--a peace that will never see Armenian men, women and children subjected to the horrors and atrocities their ancestors experienced over 80 years ago.”