S1792 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 19, 2012 SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS which are open and widely available to the Turkish territory against persons of Turkish public and interested institutions. citizenship, though of Armenian or Greek (9) The Honorable Henry Morgenthau, race. This article constitutes therefore a SENATE RESOLUTION 399—CALL- United States Ambassador to the Ottoman precedent for Article 6c and 5c of the Nurem- ING UPON THE PRESIDENT TO Empire from 1913 to 1916, organized and led berg and Tokyo Charters, and offers an ex- ENSURE THAT THE FOREIGN protests by officials of many countries, ample of one of the categories of ‘crimes among them the allies of the Ottoman Em- against humanity’ as understood by these POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES pire, against the Armenian Genocide. enactments’’. REFLECTS APPROPRIATE UN- (10) Ambassador Morgenthau explicitly de- (20) On May 28, 1951, in a written statement DERSTANDING AND SENSITIVITY scribed to the Department of State the pol- submitted to the International Court of Jus- CONCERNING ISSUES RELATED icy of the Government of the Ottoman Em- tice concerning the Convention on the Pre- TO HUMAN RIGHTS, CRIMES pire as ‘‘a campaign of race extermination,’’ vention and Punishment of the Crime of AGAINST HUMANITY, ETHNIC and was instructed on July 16, 1915, by Sec- Genocide, the United States Government CLEANSING, AND GENOCIDE DOC- retary of State Robert Lansing that the ‘‘De- stated, ‘‘The Genocide Convention resulted partment approves your procedure . . . to from the inhuman and barbarous practices UMENTED IN THE UNITED stop Armenian persecution’’. which prevailed in certain countries prior to STATES RECORD RELATING TO (11) Senate Concurrent Resolution 12, 64th and during World War II, when entire reli- THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, AND Congress, agreed to February 9, 1916, re- gious, racial and national minority groups FOR OTHER PURPOSES solved that ‘‘the President of the United were threatened with and subjected to delib- Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. States be respectfully asked to designate a erate extermination. The practice of geno- day on which the citizens of this country cide has occurred throughout human history. KIRK, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. may give expression to their sympathy by The Roman persecution of the Christians, BENNET, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mrs. FEIN- contributing funds now being raised for the the Turkish massacres of Armenians, the ex- STEIN, Mr. LEVIN, and Mr. REED of relief of the Armenians,’’ who at the time termination of millions of Jews and Poles by Rhode Island) submitted the following were enduring ‘‘starvation, disease, and un- the Nazis are outstanding examples of the resolution; which was referred to the told suffering’’. crime of genocide. This was the background Committee on Foreign Relations: (12) President Woodrow Wilson concurred when the General Assembly of the United and also encouraged the formation of the or- Nations considered the problem of genocide. S. RES. 399 ganization known as Near East Relief, char- Not once, but twice, that body declared Resolved, tered by the Act of August 6, 1919, 66th Con- unanimously that the practice of genocide is SHORT TITLE gress (41 Stat. 273, chapter 32), which con- criminal under international law and that SEC. 1. This resolution may be cited as the tributed some $116,000,000 from 1915 to 1930 to States ought to take steps to prevent and ‘‘Affirmation of the United States Record on aid Armenian Genocide survivors, including punish genocide.’’. the Armenian Genocide Resolution’’. 132,000 orphans who became foster children of (21) House Joint Resolution 148, 94th Con- the American people. gress, adopted on April 8, 1975, resolved, FINDINGS (13) Senate Resolution 359, 66th Congress, ‘‘That April 24, 1975, is hereby designated as SEC. 2. The Senate finds the following: agreed to May 11, 1920, stated in part that ‘National Day of Remembrance of Man’s In- (1) The Armenian Genocide was conceived ‘‘the testimony adduced at the hearings con- humanity to Man’, and the President of the and carried out by the Ottoman Empire from ducted by the sub-committee of the Senate United States is authorized and requested to 1915 to 1923, resulting in the deportation of Committee on Foreign Relations have clear- issue a proclamation calling upon the people nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 ly established the truth of the reported mas- of the United States to observe such day as men, women, and children were killed, sacres and other atrocities from which the a day of remembrance for all the victims of 500,000 survivors were expelled from their Armenian people have suffered’’. genocide, especially those of Armenian an- homes, and the elimination of the over 2,500- (14) The resolution followed the April 13, cestry . . .’’. year presence of Armenians in their historic 1920, report to the Senate of the American (22) President Ronald Reagan, in proclama- homeland. Military Mission to Armenia led by General tion number 4838, dated April 22, 1981 (95 (2) On May 24, 1915, the Allied Powers of James Harbord, that stated ‘‘[m]utilation, Stat. 1813), stated that, in part ‘‘[l]ike the England, France, and Russia, jointly issued a violation, torture, and death have left their genocide of the Armenians before it, and the statement explicitly charging for the first haunting memories in a hundred beautiful genocide of the Cambodians, which followed time ever another government of commit- Armenian valleys, and the traveler in that it—and like too many other persecutions of ting ‘‘a crime against humanity’’. region is seldom free from the evidence of too many other people—the lessons of the (3) This joint statement stated that ‘‘the this most colossal crime of all the ages’’. Holocaust must never be forgotten’’. Allied Governments announce publicly to (15) As displayed in the United States Hol- (23) House Joint Resolution 247, 98th Con- the Sublime Porte that they will hold per- ocaust Memorial Museum, Adolf Hitler, on gress, adopted on September 10, 1984, re- sonally responsible for these crimes all mem- ordering his military commanders to attack solved, ‘‘That April 24, 1985, is hereby des- bers of the Ottoman Government, as well as Poland without provocation in 1939, dis- ignated as ‘National Day of Remembrance of those of their agents who are implicated in missed objections by saying ‘‘[w]ho, after all, Man’s Inhumanity to Man’, and the Presi- such massacres’’. speaks today of the annihilation of the Ar- dent of the United States is authorized and (4) The post-World War I Turkish Govern- menians?’’ and thus set the stage for the Hol- requested to issue a proclamation calling ment indicted the top leaders involved in the ocaust. upon the people of the United States to ob- ‘‘organization and execution’’ of the Arme- (16) Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term serve such day as a day of remembrance for nian Genocide and in the ‘‘massacre and de- ‘‘genocide’’ in 1944, and who was the earliest all the victims of genocide, especially the struction of the Armenians’’. proponent of the United Nations Convention one and one-half million people of Armenian (5) In a series of courts-martial, officials of on the Prevention and Punishment of the ancestry . . .’’. the Young Turk Regime were tried and con- Crime of Genocide, invoked the Armenian (24) In August 1985, after extensive study victed, as charged, for organizing and exe- case as a definitive example of genocide in and deliberation, the United Nations Sub- cuting massacres against the Armenian peo- the 20th century. Commission on Prevention of Discrimination ple. (17) The first resolution on genocide adopt- and Protection of Minorities voted 14 to 1 to (6) The chief organizers of the Armenian ed by the United Nations at Mr. Lemkin’s accept a report entitled ‘‘Study of the Ques- Genocide, Minister of War Enver, Minister of urging, the December 11, 1946, United Na- tion of the Prevention and Punishment of the Interior Talaat, and Minister of the Navy tions General Assembly Resolution 96(1), and the Crime of Genocide,’’ which stated that Jemal were all condemned to death for their the United Nations Convention on the Pre- ‘‘[t]he Nazi aberration has unfortunately not crimes, but, the verdicts of the courts were vention and Punishment of the Crime of been the only case of genocide in the 20th not enforced. Genocide recognized the Armenian Genocide century. Among other examples which can (7) The Armenian Genocide and these do- as the type of crime the United Nations in- be cited as qualifying are . . . the Ottoman mestic judicial failures are documented with tended to prevent and punish by codifying massacre of Armenians in 1915–1916’’. overwhelming evidence in the national ar- existing standards. (25) This report also explained that ‘‘[a]t chives of Austria, France, Germany, Great (18) In 1948, the United Nations War Crimes least 1,000,000, and possibly well over half of Britain, Russia, the United States, the Vati- Commission invoked the Armenian Geno- the Armenian population, are reliably esti- can and many other countries, and this vast cide, ‘‘precisely . . . one of the types of acts mated to have been killed or death marched body of evidence attests to the same facts, which the modern term ‘crimes against hu- by independent authorities and eye-wit- the same events, and the same consequences. manity’ is intended to cover,’’ as a precedent nesses. This is corroborated by reports in (8) The United States National Archives for the Nuremberg tribunals. United States, German and British archives and Record Administration holds extensive (19) The Commission stated that ‘‘[t]he and of contemporary diplomats in the Otto- and thorough documentation on the Arme- provisions of Article 230 of the Peace Treaty man Empire, including those of its ally Ger- nian Genocide, especially in its holdings of Sevres were obviously intended to cover, many’’. under Record Group 59 of the United States in conformity with the Allied note of 1915 (26) The United States Holocaust Memorial Department of State, files 867.00 and 867.40, . . . , offenses which had been committed on Council, an independent Federal agency,

VerDate Mar 15 2010 01:44 Mar 20, 2012 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A19MR6.016 S19MRPT1 rfrederick on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with SENATE March 19, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S1793 unanimously resolved on April 30, 1981, that AMENDMENTS SUBMITTED AND SA 1859. Mr. VITTER submitted an amend- the United States Holocaust Memorial Mu- PROPOSED ment intended to be proposed to amendment seum would include the Armenian Genocide SA 1836 proposed by Mr. REID (for Ms. CANT- in the Museum and has since done so. SA 1848. Mr. LAUTENBERG submitted an WELL (for herself, Mr. JOHNSON of South Da- amendment intended to be proposed by him kota, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. SHELBY, Mr. WARNER, (27) Reviewing an aberrant 1982 expression to the bill H.R. 3606, to increase American (later retracted) by the Department of State Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mrs. job creation and economic growth by im- HAGAN, Mr. COONS, Mr. AKAKA, Mrs. MURRAY, asserting that the facts of the Armenian proving access to the public capital markets Genocide may be ambiguous, the United Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. KERRY, and Mr. KIRK)) to for emerging growth companies; which was the bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was ordered States Court of Appeals for the District of ordered to lie on the table. Columbia in 1993, after a review of docu- to lie on the table. SA 1849. Mr. LAUTENBERG submitted an SA 1860. Mr. HELLER submitted an amend- ments pertaining to the policy record of the amendment intended to be proposed to United States, noted that the assertion on ment intended to be proposed by him to the amendment SA 1833 proposed by Mr. REID ambiguity in the United States record about bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was ordered to lie (for Mr. REED (for himself, Ms. LANDRIEU, the Armenian Genocide ‘‘contradicted long- on the table. Mr. LEVIN, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. MERKLEY, SA 1861. Ms. SNOWE (for herself, Ms. LAN- standing United States policy and was even- Mr. AKAKA, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. FRANKEN, DRIEU, and Mr. BROWN of Massachusetts) sub- tually retracted’’. Mr. HARKIN, and Mr. DURBIN)) to the bill H.R. mitted an amendment intended to be pro- (28) On June 5, 1996, the House of Rep- 3606, supra; which was ordered to lie on the posed by her to the bill H.R. 3606, supra; resentatives adopted an amendment to table. which was ordered to lie on the table. House Bill 3540, 104th Congress (the Foreign SA 1850. Mr. LAUTENBERG submitted an SA 1862. Mr. REID submitted an amend- Operations, Export Financing, and Related amendment intended to be proposed by him ment intended to be proposed by him to the Programs Appropriations Act, 1997), to re- to the bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was or- bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was ordered to lie duce aid to Turkey by $3,000,000 (an estimate dered to lie on the table. on the table. of its payment of lobbying fees in the United SA 1851. Mr. LAUTENBERG submitted an SA 1863. Mr. REID submitted an amend- States) until the Government of Turkey ac- amendment intended to be proposed to ment intended to be proposed by him to the knowledged the Armenian Genocide and took amendment SA 1833 proposed by Mr. REID bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was ordered to lie steps to honor the memory of its victims. (for Mr. REED (for himself, Ms. LANDRIEU, on the table. (29) President William Jefferson Clinton, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. MERKLEY, SA 1864. Mr. REID submitted an amend- on April 24, 1998, stated: ‘‘This year, as in the Mr. AKAKA, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. FRANKEN, ment intended to be proposed by him to the past, we join with Armenian-Americans Mr. HARKIN, and Mr. DURBIN)) to the bill H.R. bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was ordered to lie throughout the nation in commemorating 3606, supra; which was ordered to lie on the on the table. one of the saddest chapters in the history of table. SA 1865. Mr. REID submitted an amend- this century, the deportations and massacres SA 1852. Mr. SANDERS (for himself, Mr. ment intended to be proposed to amendment of a million and a half Armenians in the BLUMENTHAL, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. FRANKEN) SA 1864 submitted by Mr. REID and intended Ottoman Empire in the years 1915–1923.’’. submitted an amendment intended to be pro- to be proposed to the bill H.R. 3606, supra; posed by him to the bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was ordered to lie on the table. (30) President George W. Bush, on April 24, which was ordered to lie on the table. SA 1866. Mr. REID submitted an amend- 2004, stated: ‘‘On this day, we pause in re- SA 1853. Mr. REED submitted an amend- ment intended to be proposed by him to the membrance of one of the most horrible trag- ment intended to be proposed to amendment bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was ordered to lie edies of the 20th century, the annihilation of SA 1833 proposed by Mr. REID (for Mr. REED on the table. as many as 1,500,000 Armenians through (for himself, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. SA 1867. Mr. REID submitted an amend- forced exile and murder at the end of the BROWN of Ohio, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. AKAKA, ment intended to be proposed to amendment Ottoman Empire.’’. Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. FRANKEN, Mr. HARKIN, SA 1866 submitted by Mr. REID and intended (31) President Barack Obama, on April 24, and Mr. DURBIN)) to the bill H.R. 3606, supra; to be proposed to the bill H.R. 3606, supra; 2010, explicitly employed the expression which was ordered to lie on the table. which was ordered to lie on the table. Meds Yeghern, a term used by Armenians to SA 1854. Mr. BROWN of Ohio submitted an SA 1868. Mr. WYDEN submitted an amend- reference the Armenian Genocide. The state- amendment intended to be proposed to ment intended to be proposed by him to the ment reads in part: ‘‘On this solemn day of amendment SA 1833 proposed by Mr. REID bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was ordered to lie remembrance, we pause to recall that 95 (for Mr. REED (for himself, Ms. LANDRIEU, on the table. SA 1869. Mr. WYDEN submitted an amend- years ago one of the worst atrocities of the Mr. LEVIN, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. MERKLEY, ment intended to be proposed by him to the 20th century began. In that dark moment of Mr. AKAKA, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. FRANKEN, bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was ordered to lie history, 1,500,000 Armenians were massacred Mr. HARKIN, and Mr. DURBIN)) to the bill H.R. or marched to their death in the final days of 3606, supra; which was ordered to lie on the on the table. SA 1870. Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Ms. the Ottoman Empire. . . . The Meds Yeghern table. SNOWE) submitted an amendment intended is a devastating chapter in the history of the SA 1855. Mr. BROWN of Ohio submitted an to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 3606, Armenian people, and we must keep its amendment intended to be proposed to supra; which was ordered to lie on the table. EID memory alive in honor of those who were amendment SA 1833 proposed by Mr. R SA 1871. Mr. COBURN submitted an (for Mr. REED (for himself, Ms. LANDRIEU, murdered and so that we do not repeat the amendment intended to be proposed by him Mr. LEVIN, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. MERKLEY, grave mistakes of the past.’’. to the bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was or- Mr. AKAKA, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. FRANKEN, (32) Despite the international recognition dered to lie on the table. and affirmation of the Armenian Genocide, Mr. HARKIN, and Mr. DURBIN)) to the bill H.R. SA 1872. Mr. COBURN submitted an the failure of the domestic and international 3606, supra; which was ordered to lie on the amendment intended to be proposed to authorities to punish those responsible for table. amendment SA 1836 proposed by Mr. REID SA 1856. Mr. LEE (for himself and Mr. the Armenian Genocide is a reason why simi- (for Ms. CANTWELL (for herself, Mr. JOHNSON DEMINT) submitted an amendment intended lar genocides have recurred and may recur in of South Dakota, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. SHELBY, to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 3606, the future, and that just resolution of this Mr. WARNER, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. BROWN of supra; which was ordered to lie on the table. issue will help prevent future genocides. Ohio, Mrs. HAGAN, Mr. COONS, Mr. AKAKA, SA 1857. Mr. LEE (for himself and Mr. Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. KERRY, and DECLARATION OF POLICY DEMINT) submitted an amendment intended Mr. KIRK)) to the bill H.R. 3606, supra; which to be proposed to amendment SA 1836 pro- SEC. 3. The Senate— was ordered to lie on the table. posed by Mr. REID (for Ms. CANTWELL (for SA 1873. Mr. COBURN submitted an (1) calls upon the President to ensure that herself, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. the foreign policy of the United States re- amendment intended to be proposed by him GRAHAM, Mr. SHELBY, Mr. WARNER, Mr. to the bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was or- flects appropriate understanding and sensi- SCHUMER, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mrs. HAGAN, tivity concerning issues related to human dered to lie on the table. Mr. COONS, Mr. AKAKA, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. SA 1874. Mr. COBURN submitted an rights, crimes against humanity, ethnic LANDRIEU, Mr. KERRY, and Mr. KIRK)) to the amendment intended to be proposed by him cleansing, and genocide documented in the bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was ordered to lie to the bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was or- United States record relating to the Arme- on the table. dered to lie on the table. nian Genocide and the consequences of the SA 1858. Mr. VITTER submitted an amend- SA 1875. Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Mr. failure to realize a just resolution; and ment intended to be proposed to amendment COBURN) submitted an amendment intended (2) calls upon the President in the Presi- SA 1836 proposed by Mr. REID (for Ms. CANT- to be proposed by her to the bill H.R. 3606, dent’s annual message commemorating the WELL (for herself, Mr. JOHNSON of South Da- supra; which was ordered to lie on the table. Armenian Genocide issued on or about April kota, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. SHELBY, Mr. WARNER, SA 1876. Mrs. HAGAN (for herself and Mr. 24, to accurately characterize the systematic Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mrs. CASEY) submitted an amendment intended to and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Arme- HAGAN, Mr. COONS, Mr. AKAKA, Mrs. MURRAY, be proposed by her to the bill H.R. 3606, nians as genocide and to recall the proud his- Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. KERRY, and Mr. KIRK)) to supra; which was ordered to lie on the table. tory of United States intervention in opposi- the bill H.R. 3606, supra; which was ordered SA 1877. Mrs. HAGAN (for herself and Mr. tion to the Armenian Genocide. to lie on the table. CASEY) submitted an amendment intended to

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