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Pallone Praises Ambassador Evans for Using the Word "Genocide" in Public Statements

March 2, 2005

"Mr. Speaker, Ambassador Evans, the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, recently when meeting with Armenian Americans during visits in several U.S. cities referenced the Armenian genocide. In a series of public statements, Ambassador Evans who has studied Russian history at Yale and Columbia and Ottoman history at the Kennan Institute stated, 'I will today call it the Armenian Genocide.'

"Mr. Speaker, Ambassador Evans' statements did not contradict U.S. policy, but rather articulated the same message that the Bush administration has sent to the public, the only difference in this case is that Ambassador Evans simply assigned the word to the definition that was already provided by President Bush as well as members of his administration.

"Breaking with a pattern on the part of the State Department of using alternative and evasive terminology for the Armenian genocide, Ambassador Evans pointed out that 'no American official has ever denied it.'

"Now, Ambassador Evans was merely recounting the historical record, which has been attested to by over 120 Holocaust and genocide scholars from around the world. In so doing, he was merely giving a name, the accurate description of genocide, to this very administration's statements on the issue.

"President Bush on April 24 of each of the last four years when commemorating the Armenian genocide used the textbook definition of genocide with words and phrases such as 'annihilation' and 'forced exile and murder.' Before him, President Reagan used the word ``genocide'' in 1981 when describing the annihilation of over 1.5 million Armenians.

"In the day of the genocide, our U.S. ambassador, then Henry Morgenthal, had the courage to speak out against the atrocities, which he stated were a planned and systematic effort to annihilate an entire race. In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I just want to add my name and my voice to all those who, like Ambassador Evans, know the truth and speak it plainly when discussing the Armenian genocide."