Transcript [PDF] - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

37
thing that is glossed over or forgotten. As world leaders, the United
States must recognize this genocide and continue to strongly condemn
any genocide around the world as we stand up for human
rights and American values.
We simply cannot continue our policy of denial regarding the Armenian
Genocide, the first in the twentieth century that was recognized.
So I encourage all of my members, all the members of this
committee to support House Resolution 252 to recognize the Armenian
Genocide as a matter of fact by this Congress. So I proudly
today, in honor of those who I grew up with, the Kazarians, the
Kollegians, the Bakers, the Abrahamians, the Karabians, and the
Kashians, that listening to those stories as a young man I never
ever forgot, and this vote today that I will cast is in honor of their
families who did suffer as a result of the Armenian Genocide. I
lend back the balance of my time.
Chairman BERMAN. The gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Flake, for
what purpose do you seek recognition
Mr. FLAKE. To strike the last word.
Chairman BERMAN. Recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. FLAKE. I thank the chairman. I won’t take the full 5 minutes.
I just want to say that I don’t intend to minimize the horrific
events that happened so many years ago. I am not a historian but
to me it sure looked like a genocide. But I don’t have so much a
problem with the timing as I do the venue. We are not the arbiters
of history here, and I don’t think that we ought to assume or pretend
that the rest of the world and all the historians hang on our
every word.
And I think that going down this road here assumes that, and
it will open up other issues that we may not want to address, and
it certainly opens up a lot of our own history that we would rather,
as has been said, move on from having acknowledged it. But I don’t
think that we would want other countries digging back into our
own history as well. So as I said, I have more of a problem with
the venue than the timing. I simply don’t think that it is our proper
role to take this up at this time. So I will be voting no. And I
yield back.
Chairman BERMAN. The gentleman has yielded back his time.
Let me just tell people where we are now. We have a unanimous
consent adopted that calls the roll at 2:15. We will need people
here for that roll call. That roll will stay open until 2:45, and that
is the situation. I know there are White House schedules that
change all the time in terms of everybody and I understand that,
but this is the window we have. We will have the last votes sometime
between 2:30 and 3 o’clock, 3:15. So this roll call is called at
2:15. The gentleman from Minnesota, Mr. Ellison
Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.
Chairman BERMAN. The gentleman is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Chairman, it is not an overstatement to say
that one of the reasons I went to Congress was to fight for human
rights. It is one of the reasons I am here at all. And therefore I
must speak out for justice and oppose atrocities wherever they
might be committed. And in recognizing the Armenian Genocide we
remember and honor not only those who died in that tragic event,
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