Ottoman authorities ordered the arrest of over 200 Armenian Intellectual leaders in Constantinople and throughout the empire. taking them from their homos and summarily executing them. The United States Ambassador to Turkey from 1913 to 1916. Henry Morgenthau. described the slaughter of the Armenians In his autobiography. "The Ambassador Morgenthau Story." "When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations. they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race. they understood this well. and in their conversations with me. they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact." Despite the fact that the United States National Archives holds Innumerable reports by Consuls and Ambassadors detailing the process by which the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire was decimated. there are still those who choose to ignore the tragedy that befel the Armenians. Just recently. I learned of an unfortunate situation at the Ellis Island National Park. A photo display at the Ellis Island centennial exhibit depicting the execution of Armenians by Turkish forces. as part of an exhibit on Immigration to the United States. was removed In late January by the parks superintendent following a pressure campaign by the Turkish Embassy. I urge my colleagues to pause today and remember those Armenians that were uprooted from their homeland of 3.000 years and eliminated through massacre and exile during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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Immigration deportations