107 years ago, the Ottoman Empire undertook a systematic effort to destroy the Armenian people, in what became the first genocide of the 20th century. Ultimately, the Armenian Genocide took the lives of 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children, United States Congressman Adam Schiff says.
“Despite overwhelming evidence of this methodical mass killing, Turkey continues to deny the genocide ever happened. They want the world to forget, but we will not forget. We will never forget. For tens of thousands of my constituents recognition of the genocide has been a lifelong struggle. It has been deeply personal for me as well. I have sat with the survivals of the genocide, but welcomed in their homes and heard their stories of the murders of their parents, brothers and sisters and the destruction of their property and the lives their families built. I’ve watched them re-live the pain with tears and screaming down their faces.
For 20 years I have introduced resolutions recognizing the Armenian genocide and in 2019 for the first time in the history both the House and Senate passed this resolution by near unanimous margins, affirming the facts of the Armenian genocide. And last year President Joe Biden cast aside decades of shameful silence by our nation to become the first sitting US President to recognize the Armenian Genocide. This historic milestones happened because of you, a strong and resilient Armenian Diaspora. And we remember the lives lost during the Armenian genocide we also remember the victims of far more recent and unprovoked violence against the Armenian people. The many who died in Artsakh the thousands who were forced to flee from Azerbaijani and Turkish aggression and those who remain as prisoners of war and are still living in fear today of another invasion.
I will always stand with the Armenian community to honor the victims of the genocide and I will always stay with the Armenian community as we demand peace for Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and the Armenian people, continue our calls to save and unconditional release of remaining Armenian prisoners of war and do everything we can to bring liberation to our Armenian brothers and sisters abroad. I will always stand with you. Thank you.”
