Political Quotes

“On April 24, we commemorate the 82d anniversary of the Armenian genocide, a tragic passage in our world history which observed the systematic murder and relocation of 1.5 million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. This tragedy, the first genocide of the 20th century, included the torture, starvation, and butchering of peaceful Armenians was a horrid example and foreshadowing of the race extermination of which politically and religiously intolerant regimes are capable. The Ottoman Turks decapitated the Armenian population by removing their religious, political, and intellectual leaders and placing them in exile to later be murdered. With their leadership removed, the Turks next deprived Armenians of 250,000 of their young, able-bodied men who were serving in the Ottoman army at the time. These men were disarmed, placed in forced labor battalions, and either starved or executed. Severed from their leadership and physical protection, the remaining Armenian population were deported from every city, town, and village in Asia Minor and Turkish Armenia. The ensuing march saw the torture, rape, and mutilation of defenseless women, children, and elderly before their subsequent death in the Syrian desert. The Armenian genocide was a carefully executed government plan which effectively eliminated the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire.”