Speech #1060022352

I would like to thank the cochairs of the Armenian Caucus. the gentleman from New Jersey and the gentleman from Illinois for arranging this important special order in observance of this tragic event. During the second half of the nineteenth century. between the years 1915 and 1923. the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire became a target of heightened persecution by the Ottoman Turks. These persecutions culminated in a 3decade period during which more than 1.5 million Armenians were systematically uprooted from their homelands of 3.000 years and eliminated through massacres and deportation. Mr. Speaker. this historic event can no longer be denied.