Russ Feingold: “people around the world are joining together to solemnly remember and honor the men, women and children who perished in…”

“people around the world are joining together to solemnly remember and honor the men, women and children who perished in the Armenian genocide. Eighty-none years ago, 1/2 million Armenians were systematically massacred at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Over 500,000 more were forced to flee their homeland of 3,000 years. Before genocide was defined and codified in international law, Armenians experienced its horror. Yet it appears that the international community did not learn the lessons of Armenia's genocide. Throughout the 20th century, the international community failed to act as governments in Germany, Yugoslavia and Rwanda attempted to methodically eliminate people because of their religion or ethnicity. Minority groups were abandoned by the international community in each instance to be overwhelmed by violence and despair. In Armenia, as in Rwanda and the Holocaust, the perpetrating governments scapegoated their minority groups for the difficulties they faced as societies. They justified their campaigns of hatred with political and economic reasons in an attempt to rationalize their depravity. This is why we must remember the Armenian genocide. To forget it is to enable more genocides and ethnic cleansing to occur. We must honor its victims by reaffirming our resolve to not let it happen again. In the shadow of the Holocaust, in 1948, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”