Senator Adam Schiff’s Post
On today’s solemn anniversary, I join Armenians in California, all around the United States and around the world in remembering the 1.5 million men, women, and children who were systematically targeted in a campaign of mass murder, rape, and brutalization by the Ottoman Empire.
We must never forget the concerted efforts that saw Armenians from all walks of life rounded up, tortured, burned alive, and marched until death from exhaustion and starvation. Entire families wiped out as a result of what the U.S. Ambassador at the time called a ‘campaign of race extermination.’ The first genocide of the 20th century.
Today’s anniversary also reminds us that the United States for too long stood in dishonorable silence on these events. While the Congress and the White House have finally taken that step to recognize the Armenian Genocide, there is more work to do in order to fully support our Armenian neighbors and friends. We must never retreat from that important progress.
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I have sat down with survivors and have watched them relive the pain of this history over and over. We cannot pledge ‘never again’ if we do not also acknowledge that, even a century later, the wounds of this tragedy are still open. And in tragic ways, they begin anew.
Turkey continues to engage in a long and dangerous campaign to deny the genocide and silence anyone who speaks the truth. Azerbaijan has also echoed the genocidal language and actions of a century ago, and with the support of Turkey, attacked Artsakh in 2020 and blockaded it for nearly ten months starting in December 2022. In 2023, the Aliyev regime took full advantage of a people they had systematically starved and ethnically cleansed Artsakh’s indigenous Armenian population.
We must hold Azerbaijan and those who continue to threaten Armenia and its people accountable. Only after the genocide is universally acknowledged and the continued threats to the Armenian community are ended can we truly say they we have honored the memory of those who were lost one hundred and ten years ago and stood with those who still carry those memories today.
The United States must call for Azerbaijan’s release of Armenian hostages, advocate for the protected return of Armenians to Artsakh, and call attention to the destruction and desecration of Armenian religious and cultural sites by Azerbaijan in its effort to erase Armenian culture and history. The United States must also urge the immediate withdrawal of Azerbaijani forces from Armenian territory, release of prisoners of war, support Armenia’s sovereignty, maintain international monitoring on Armenia’s borders, and provide security assistance to Armenia.
Despite the trials the Armenian people have faced and continue to face, it has not broken their faith, determination, or their will to survive. Time and time again, the Armenian people have overcome enormous hardship and loss, and yet, still remain strong and unbowed.
From shoulder to shoulder in our community to the U.S. Senate, I will always stand with the Armenian community.
