Patrick Kennedy: “we join here today to honor the memory of the Armenians who were massacred and the Armenian survivors who fled into…”

“we join here today to honor the memory of the Armenians who were massacred and the Armenian survivors who fled into exile during the Ottoman Empire's genocide from 1915 to 1923. On April 24th 1915, the Ottoman Empire began what can be called nothing less than a policy of ethnic cleansing. The U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, stated that he was confident the treatment he observed of the Armenian people from 1915 to 1923 was the greatest atrocity the human race had ever seen. ``I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this,'' Morgenthau stated. We are very fortunate and blessed to have so many Armenian people connected to our Nation. In my home state, the Armenian community is great, and so too are the gifts and talents they bring to Rhode Island. Our Nation must continue to take the time to educate and remember the atrocities suffered by over one and a half million Armenians during the Armenian Genocide. Future generations must understand what the community has been through to truly appreciate and honor all the talents they share with our Nation. Over eighty-six years later after the tragedy began, Turkey still denies the Armenian Genocide despite overwhelming documentation of these atrocities. We cannot allow such ethnic violence and genocide to simply be covered up or ignored.”