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RECOGNIZING GENOCIDE OF ASSYRIANS
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Jackson Lee). The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Harder) for 5 minutes.
Mr. HARDER OF California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask if this body cares more about the hurt feelings of a dictator than the legacy of 300,000 innocent men, women, and children murdered in the only place they had ever called home.
In 1914, the Ottoman Empire slaughtered more than 300,000 innocent Assyrians. Yet, 108 years later, this body has still not recognized that slaughter for what it was--a genocide.
Growing up in the Central Valley, I was surrounded by our Assyrian community. I ate handmade dolmas with my Assyrian neighbor, Nana Bitpera, who was like a grandmother to me. She told me about the contributions of the Assyrian community to the modern world and explained the weight that her people have carried since that brutal massacre in 1914.
Madam Speaker, that is why, today, I am leading a resolution to finally recognize the genocide of the Assyrians in the Middle East. My resolution commemorates August 7, Shova b'tabakh, as Assyrian Genocide Memorial Day. It asserts that Turkey, the inheritor of the Ottoman tradition, must recognize the genocide. It recognizes the resilience of the Assyrian people, who, after they taught the world how to build cities, how to domesticate crops, endured the cruelest kind of event history can provide only to spread out across our globe and keep their traditions alive today.
This body should stand for the right of all people to live freely and in safety, and that starts by recognizing the history and perseverance of the Assyrian people.
Madam Speaker, today, I urge our House leadership to bring this resolution directly to the floor. Anything else is unacceptable.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 133
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