Affirming the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide

Floor Speech

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Mr. SHERMAN. American honor demands that we end our complicity in genocide denial.

Four arguments are made against this resolution:

The first is that it is not true. No one can even make that argument anymore. 1.5 million Armenians and countless Syrians, Greeks, and others massacred by the Ottoman Government.

Second, they argue that Turkey is such a great ally that we should turn a blind eye to what happened last century. Earlier this month, Turkish forces shelled both to the left and to the right of American military bases. American soldiers fled in unseemly haste. What a great ally Turkey is.

Then we were told: Well, the Foreign Affairs Committee hasn't had hearings. We have had countless hearings on this for decades, including, also, a 4-hour markup where we passed it through the committee, and the only argument made on the other side there was Turkey was such a great ally. Well, last week, we had hearings in our committee that demonstrate that Turkey is not such a great ally of the United States.

And, finally, we were told--and this is insulting, I think--during the rules debate by someone arguing against the rule that it is not worth our time: 1.5 million dead.

The fact is that genocide denial is the last act of a genocide. First, you obliterate a people; then you obliterate their memory; and, finally, you seek to obliterate the memory of the obliteration.

And, also, genocide denial is the first step in the next genocide. When Hitler's cadres wondered whether they could get away with the Holocaust, he was able to reassure them by saying: Who today speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?

Denying genocide in the past will lead to more genocides in the future.

Today, Germany is a great and prosperous democracy because it has come to grips with its own past. Where would Germany be today if it denied the Holocaust?

Turkey will become a prosperous and a modern nation only when it recognizes the first genocide of the 20th century. The best thing we could do for Turkey is to acknowledge the genocide and urge them to do likewise.

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Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and this is, indeed, a bipartisan speech.

The fact is that many other countries have recognized this genocide, and they have done so under tremendous Turkish pressure. For example, France was told that they would not be able to export to Turkey if they recognized the genocide. They did, and, in the subsequent 6 years, French exports to Turkey quadrupled.

This genocide has been recognized by Argentina, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and the list goes on and on. It is time for America to also recognize the truth.

I look forward to the day, which is not true today, when scholars and individuals in Turkey can talk about the genocide and can come to grips with their own past instead of being threatened with incarceration for even mentioning this debate, because Turkey will not have the rule of law and democracy until you are free to discuss the first genocide of the 20th century on Turkish soil.

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