Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to memorialize and record a courageous story of survival of the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulted in the death of 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children. As the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau documented at the time, it was a campaign of ``race extermination.''

The campaign to annihilate the Armenian people failed, as illustrated by the proud Armenian nation and prosperous diaspora. It is difficult if not impossible to find an Armenian family not touched by the genocide, and while there are some survivors still with us, it is imperative that we record their stories. Through the Armenian Genocide Congressional Record Project, I hope to document the harrowing stories of the survivors in an effort to preserve their accounts and to help educate the Members of Congress now and in the future of the necessity of recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Below is one of those stories:

Submitted by Harry Boghossian, an Armenian Genocide Survivor Descendant

Who Resides in San Diego, California

``It is an honor to have this opportunity to express my

deepest appreciation to you for documenting my families'

genocide story.

``My father, Hagop Boghossian (born Hagop Asharjian), was a

remarkable man. He was born on May 20, 1910, in the city of

Dikranagerd, present day Diyarbakir, Turkey. His parents,

Boghos, and Ani, had three sons and three daughters: Yeznig,

Hagop, Antranig, Dickranouhi, Mena, and Vartouhi.

``My father always reminded me what happened to his family

in the days following April 24, 1915. He said to me: 'During

the massacre, the Turkish government took away my innocent,

beloved father and my older brother, and they never returned

home. They were murdered by the Turkish government. My

younger brother, Antranig, died of cold and hunger, and there

was no one around to bury him. My second oldest sister, Mena,

was married to a Turkish man by force, and she died of hunger

and cold, as well. All our luxury belongings: home, money,

jewelry, clothing and our historic homeland were taken away

by the Turks.'

``The surviving members of his family ended up in a refugee

camp and his mother worked hard for several years just so

they could stay alive. My father's mother was a beautiful

woman, and had offers to marry several Turkish and Armenian

men, but she refused to remarry.

``In 1922, my father's uncle, Anto, on his mother's side,

fortunately came from Israel, managed to find them, and

helped them to obtain their passports to immigrate to Israel.

On May 7, 1945, my parents, Hagop and Mary, got married. They

had three sons and one daughter: Paul, Peter, Harry and Ani.

In 1949 my father's mother Ani, passed away.

``In May 1966, my family moved to Los Angeles, California.

``My father's two older sisters passed away. Dikranouhi, in

1968 and Vartouhi, in 1985. He sometimes cries when he

remembers his lost family. I watched him cry and realized my

Dad's heart was hurting inside, and that he had experienced a

great deal of sadness, tragedy, depression, and loneliness.

``My father passed away on May 9, 1996. He always loved his

family and this country with all his heart. He was married

over 50 years and had six grandchildren.

``My maternal grandparents were also survivors of the

Armenian Genocide. During the massacre the Turks were going

to take away my grandfather, Toros Sivalzlian, to a death

march in the desert. Fortunately he was hidden behind the

door and the Turks did not see him, so they left. God saved

him and he escaped. He was 20 years old at that time and lost

his family. My grandmother Santoukht's brother was included

with all people that were marching, during the deportation by

the Turks. She started running after him while he was being

marched away. She didn't catch up to him. And never saw him

again. At the age of 10, she lost her parents/family and was

an orphan, and did not know or have any contact information

if her family were dead or alive. My grandparents met and

were married in Greece, had seven children, 24 grandchildren

and five great-grandchildren. They were marred over 63 years

and lived over 90 years.

``On April 29, 2009, I met with Senator Wyland and his

staff at the state capitol to testify in front of the chair

members in favor of the Genocide Awareness Act SB234. My

testimony was as follows:

`` `One of the greatest atrocities during the First World

War was the Armenian Genocide. The 1.5 million Armenians that

vanished from this planet that were annihilated by the

genocide deserve to be recognized throughout history along

with all Genocides. My father was an eyewitness to the

massacre. He was exposed to a terrible tragedy. It changed

his entire life. He saw bodies buried below the ground except

their head exposed to the sun. He saw men, women, and

children lying on the ground dead. Our former U.S.

Ambassador, Henry Morgenthau, documented the Armenian

Genocide. He put into print the experience he witnessed of

the Turkish government's immoral tactics to wipe out the

Armenian people, and rob the people of their land and

dignity. Mr. Ambassador had the willingness to record the

atrocities as a credible, U.S. government document, readily

available in the U.S. archives. This document serves as a

legitimate itemization of the Genocide. In so doing, he kept

the remembrance of the Armenian Genocide alive in the face of

today's Turkish government plot to cover up the truth and

deny that the Genocide ever existed. We must never live in

the denial of the truth. I urge the Senate Education

Committee to support and vote for the Genocide Awareness Act

SB 234 so the genocide is never repeated.' ''

``I would like to thank you Congressman Adam Schiff, for

your generous support for supporting the Armenian Genocide.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today to memorialize and record a courageous story of survival of the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulted in the death of 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children. As the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau documented at the time, it was a campaign of ``race extermination.''

The campaign to annihilate the Armenian people failed, as illustrated by the proud Armenian nation and prosperous diaspora. It is difficult if not impossible to find an Armenian family not touched by the genocide, and while there are some survivors still with us, it is imperative that we record their stories. Through the Armenian Genocide Congressional Record Project, I hope to document the harrowing stories of the survivors in an effort to preserve their accounts and to help educate the Members of Congress now and in the future of the necessity of recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Below is one of those stories:

Nora Hovsepian, the granddaughter of Vergine Djihanian, a

Genocide survivor, expressed a story on her grandmother's

behalf:

``Vergine Djihanian was an Armenian girl who lived with her

parents and eight brothers and sisters in the city of

Erzinga, Turkey.

``In the summer of 1915, Vergine witnessed her father and

uncle being beaten and axed to death in front of her eyes by

Turkish gendarmes. Her mother and aunt frantically gathered

up all of their children, took them to the nearby banks of

the Euphrates River, said their prayers, and holding hands

together at the river's edge, threw themselves into the

raging waters, choosing to die by their own hands rather than

falling victim to the barbarity of the Turkish soldiers

surrounding them.

``All of them drowned, except 9-year-old Vergine, who clung

to the branch of a weeping willow tree overhanging the river,

instinctively wanting to survive. Vergine was too young to

understand why her family was dying around her. She was too

young to understand the fear of being raped or enslaved by

Turkish soldiers, but she was old enough to know that if she

could just hold on a little longer to the hanging branch,

then maybe she could be saved. She hung on for what seemed an

eternity. However, she felt hopeful again when a

compassionate Kurdish family came to the river's edge, saw

her desperation, and rescued her. She was the only one who

survived the ordeal, saving her from an agonizing death.

``She worked as a maid in the house of her rescuers for a

few years. Then American missionaries had come to the region

trying to find lost souls. Vergine was taken to an American

orphanage, and at the age of 14, she was reunited with her

two older brothers who had been in America for several years

and who were frantically trying to find any surviving members

of their large family.

``Vergine came to New York on a ship through Ellis Island

in 1921 and built her life there. She met and married Missak

Kalebdjian, another survivor of the Armenian massacres, in

Adana in 1909, and she never told her only son or anyone else

about the unspeakable horrors she had witnessed.

``Vergine Djihanian Kalebdjian was my grandmother. She told

me her story when I was 10 years old, sitting me down with a

serious and sad look, preparing me for what I was about to

hear. As I listened, I could not even fathom what she had

gone through at the same age, and until now, and for the rest

of my life, I will never forget her story.

``Nearly 60 years after her nightmare, the memory remained

fresh within my grandmother's mind. She wept uncontrollably

as she told me the story of her family's fate. I tried to

comfort her, telling her I did not want her to cry, but she

wanted to get it out, as it had been festering inside her for

all those years. She could not bring herself to tell my

father, her only son, about her childhood as he was growing

up, because she wanted to spare him the pain she had endured.

She wanted to give him a better life and happy memories.

``My grandmother said that she had to pass down the legacy

of what happened to her and her family to my generation, so

that we could tell the world and seek justice for the

unspeakable crime against our people.

``I will forever cherish her words and her memory.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today to memorialize and record a courageous story of survival of the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulted in the death of 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children. As the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, documented at the time, it was a campaign of ``race extermination.''

The campaign to annihilate the Armenian people failed, as illustrated by the proud Armenian nation and prosperous diaspora. It is difficult if not impossible to find an Armenian family not touched by the genocide, and while there are some survivors still with us, it is imperative that we record their stories. Through the Armenian Genocide Congressional Record Project, I hope to document the harrowing stories of the survivors in an effort to preserve their accounts and to help educate the Members of Congress now and in the future of the necessity of recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Below is one of those stories:

(Submitted by Kay Mouradian, EdD, Professor Emerita Education, Los

Angeles Community Colleges, daughter of Flora Munushian Mouradian)

``As a child growing up in Boston, my mother, Flora, would

tell me stories of her childhood in Turkey. `Hunger is a pain

that never sleeps,' she said recalling the trauma she

experienced in 1915, when at age 14 she and her immediate

family of nine were forced to leave their home in Hadjin,

Turkey. She told me of the hardships during the forced march

. . . no food or water, the terrifying fear as Turkish

soldiers tried to abduct her and her 16-year-old sister,

helplessly watching soldiers take away her 18-year-old

brother, no sanitation at the outdoor camps, the smell of

disease and death in those camps, one of which cramped

150,000 emaciated Armenians before they were allowed to

continue on, witnessing the already dead lining the roads,

painfully watching her father bury her 70-year-old

grandmother, becoming hopelessly traumatized as her father

leaves her and her sister in Aleppo, Syria. Can you imagine

the painstaking decision made by loving parents to leave

vulnerable teenage daughters behind in a strange, huge Arabic

city hoping their chance for survival would be greater?

``No longer having the protection of her father and not

knowing a word of Arabic, Flora's fear of becoming an orphan

explodes and is compounded when working as a `slave' in a

Syrian home, Flora is sold to a wealthy Turk. When her sister

learns Flora is in the harem, she stealthily sneaks into the

harem and steals Flora to safety. Both girls were the only

ones from the family to survive.

``In 1984, at the age of 83, my mother, Flora, having

outlived her husband and two of her four children, was

hospitalized. She was diagnosed as terminally ill with

congestive heart failure and could not feed herself because

she suffered from severe hand tremors. Confused, she did not

recognize people she once knew. The day I took her to

emergency she did not know who I was.

`` `Let her spend her last few days at home,' her doctor

said.

``With a heavy heart, I brought her home. Her final moments

were near. I did not expect her to survive the night. But I

was wrong. As time passed, not only did my mother rebound but

she literally recovered! Her hands quieted and no longer

trembled and more amazingly, her mind was again clear and

alert as if her brain cells had been renewed. I watched as

she developed new relationships with friends that only

recently she hadn't recognized. The most miraculous and

wonderful part of all of this was that my mother had become

more loving.

``Until her heart attack, her life had been colored by the

Armenian tragedy. She was filled with anger and self-pity,

and dwelt on the horrors of the past. She often talked about

her family who had perished at the hands of the Turks. Now,

incredibly, that dark shadow was gone. It was as though

something happened inside Flora's heart, something beyond my

ability to understand.

``My mother had three more episodes in the next five years.

Each time I was told she would not survive without the help

of a respirator and each time we, the family, refused,

feeling she needed to move on if it was her time. But my

mother's fourth encounter with death really stunned me. In

1988, I went to Aleppo, Syria, to search for the family that

gave my mother refuge and found the one remaining descendant.

The next day I received a call from home. Mom had another

attack, her fourth. I prepared myself for the worst and flew

home.

``When I saw Mom in the hospital, she tried to smile but

was too weak. `I don't know why I didn't die,' she said, her

voice barely audible.

``I leaned close and gently asked, `Mom, do you think you

will die now?'

`` `It doesn't look like it,' she said, her voice cracking

and her face reflecting her own disbelief. Somehow, she knew.

Two days later, when I entered cardiac care I was astonished

to see my mother sitting up in bed, unattended. A day earlier

she couldn't even turn her head without help. When she saw me

she shouted something in Turkish, a language she hadn't

spoken in more than 50 years!

``I was startled. She was filled with energy and animated.

What was she shouting in Turkish? `Mom, I don't understand

you,' I said, trying to calm her. `Speak to me in English.

Repeat everything I say.'

``I went through the entire English alphabet. She repeated

each letter dutifully, as if she were in school following a

teacher's instructions. We counted numbers and she repeated

those in English. But then she started to shout in Turkish

again. An occasional English or Armenian word was in the mix.

`They took my education! They took my family! Do you know

what it was like? I went crazy!' She looked straight into my

eyes and said loud and clear in English, `The bastards!'--a

word not in my old-fashioned mother's vocabulary. I couldn't

hold back a laugh.

``Throughout this wild scenario, even when she was shouting

in Turkish, she was joyful. 'Mom, are you happy?' I asked

trying to understand this phenomenon.

`` `Yes!' she said emphatically.

`` `Why?' I questioned.

`` `Because I'm awake!' she said with authority.

``Had she been given an opportunity to release her own

intense hatred of the Turks? Was that hatred released with

the strong expulsion of her anger when she shouted, `The

bastards!' I'll never know for sure, but I can state for a

fact that my mother was so filled with love after this fourth

brush with death she couldn't harbor hatred, even toward the

Turks. Love poured out of her heart, like a flower releasing

its perfume. Everyone around her felt it.

``Escaping death time and time again, Flora became more

alert and loving each time. Her amazing transformation during

those last five years of her life taught me a lifetime of

understanding. The greatest of these is the fact that when

negative matrixes like hatred and anger no longer rule the

heart, streams of fragrant love pour out of every cell in the

body. She shined like a thousand suns.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to memorialize and record a courageous story of survival of the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulted in the death of 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children. As the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau documented at the time, it was a campaign of ``race extermination.''

The campaign to annihilate the Armenian people failed, as illustrated by the proud Armenian nation and prosperous diaspora. It is difficult if not impossible to find an Armenian family not touched by the genocide, and while there are some survivors still with us, it is imperative that we record their stories. Through the Armenian Genocide Congressional Record Project, I hope to document the harrowing stories of the survivors in an effort to preserve their accounts and to help educate the Members of Congress now and in the future of the necessity of recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Below are a few of those stories:

Varsenik Demirjian, a Genocide survivor, eventually made

her way to Yerevan, Armenia, where she lived in a

comfortable, two-story home with her two sons, their wives

and six grandchildren.

According to her family, she did not discuss what

transpired during the genocide for most of her life. However,

in her final years, she found the strength and will to tell

her children and grandchildren what happened. Edward

Djrbashian, her great grandson, translated her experiences

that took place in Adabazar, Turkey, in 1915:

``I had no idea what the future had in store for me. Yet,

my father and mother had heard of what happened to the

Armenians in neighboring villages, so they asked our Arabic

neighbors to take care of me, just in case something

happened. On April 24 of 1915, when I was only five years

old, the bloodthirsty Turks invaded our village. Just as my

parents predicted, my mother quickly told me to run to the

closet and to stay there.

``Panic-stricken, I curled up in the dark closet and in a

blink of an eye I heard loud screaming and a loud bang! Out

of fear, I dropped the bag of gold coins my mother had given

me. The clinking sound alerted the soldier because I heard

the clicking of his boots on the hardwood floor coming closer

and closer. Thankfully, as he was approaching the closet, one

of his superiors called him down and he left the house

without finding me. As my eyes closed, I slowly fell asleep.

``After a very long time it seemed, I heard a voice

calling, `Varsenik, Varsenik!'

``The familiar voice comforted me and gave me courage to

rush out of the closet.

``My heart sunk when I saw the tears in Hassan's and his

wife's eyes.

`` `I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your

parents have been murdered,' '' Hassan told me.

``Since that day, my life had never been the same. I lived

with Hassan and his wife for a few months. They gave me my

own room and fed me well. I didn't mind living with them, but

the thought of my parents

being dead hurt me greatly. One morning as my eyes just

opened, Hassan came running to my room and told me to wear my

clothes and quickly hide in the closet. As I did what he

said, I heard a knock on the door. It was an American's

voice. As I closed the closet door, flashbacks of my mother

screaming went through my head. It seemed like only a few

moments had passed by, and before I knew it, the closet door

swung open. There were two men. One seemed to be an American,

and the other was an Armenian. I couldn't resist not

answering the questions the Armenian man asked me, and

eventually he nicely asked me to pack my belongings because

he was going to take me to a Red Cross orphanage in

Jerusalem. That was the last time I saw Hassan.

``In the orphanage, I learned to read and write English and

Armenian, cook and knit. I made a couple of friends, but none

were ever close to me.

``After living in the orphanage for twelve years, my

teacher gave me a reason to smile again. She called me up and

said, `You are nearing the age of 18 and I have very good

news for you, Varsenik. Your uncle from Greece has somehow

contacted our Orphanage and we have agreed to let you decide

if you want to leave.'

``Of course, I was grateful for receiving news that would

spark a ray of hope in my melancholic life.

``The remaining weeks at the Red Cross orphanage were very

delightful, because I knew that in a week or so I would be in

a beautiful country, Greece, with people I can call family.

As the time approached for me to leave, I thanked everyone in

the orphanage house and the teachers for all they had done

for me.

``What I found in Athens was my future husband, Hakop, whom

I married a few years later. We had three children and our

family survived during the harsh times of the WWII era, when

the Nazis occupied Greece. Finally after the war, we decided

that it is time to return to our real homeland, Armenia. In

1947, we boarded another ship which took us to Yerevan.

``I knew that this was my very last destination.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today to memorialize and record a courageous story of survival of the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulted in the death of 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children. As the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau documented at the time, it was a campaign of ``race extermination.''

The campaign to annihilate the Armenian people failed, as illustrated by the proud Armenian nation and prosperous diaspora. It is difficult if not impossible to find an Armenian family not touched by the genocide, and while there are some survivors still with us, it is imperative that we record their stories. Through the Armenian Genocide Congressional Record Project, I hope to document the harrowing stories of the survivors in an effort to preserve their accounts and to help educate the Members of Congress now and in the future of the necessity of recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Below is one of those stories:

Mary Samanlian Poladian's grandmother, Mary Hasesian,

married Artin (Haroutyoun) Samanlian when she was 16 years

old--it was Artin's second marriage and Mary's first

marriage. They were from the city of Marash. From Mary

Samanlian Poladian on behalf of her grandmother, grandfather

and ancestors:

``My grandfather's first wife had died and left behind an

8-year-old daughter named Siranoush, and a 7-year-old son

named Panos. After a year of marriage, my grandmother was

already expecting a child.

``One evening, when the French army left the city, the

Turkish army armed with knives and axes attacked the city

before sunrise. The Armenian people were still asleep. My

grandfather and grandmother were awakened by the noises and

realized that they should run to safety. They immediately

took the children and got out their home to go to the nearby

church. On their way, the Turkish soldiers fired at them from

far away. Panos cried in pain when one of the bullets struck

his leg. His father carried him, and they all continued

walking towards the church. Not long after, my grandmother

began to feel pain, and she knew she was ready to deliver her

baby.

``When they reached the church, my grandmother gave birth

to a baby girl who she named Zarouhi. The church was full of

people, and sadly my grandmother and grandfather lost each

other. During this time, she also found out that Lutfia and

Gulen, two of the nine sisters, had been burned alive in the

furnace with their husbands and children. With no sign of her

husband, she carried her baby and asked her husband's son and

daughter to hold her skirt as they walked out of the church

with the rest of the people.

``Now, they had to walk from Marash to Aleppo (Syria). The

weather was cold and it began to snow. They ate snow when

they felt hungry. It was a long way and they were exhausted.

Panos's pain was not subsiding as well. Eventually, they all

made it to Aleppo, where they joined other Armenian refugees.

An Armenian priest sent them, as well as three other Armenian

women and their children, to Damascus by train. In Damascus,

they lived together in an old house.

``One day, some Armenians and Americans came and took the

children to the orphanage. My grandmother was devastated. As

time passed by, good news sparked a ray of hope in her life.

Three years later, there was a knock on her door, and guess

who it was? My grandmother fell on the ground unconscious

when she saw her husband standing in front of the home. After

she absorbed what had happen, he told her that he had been

looking for them for a long time, and was told by some

relatives that they had heard of them coming to Aleppo. He

immediately brought back his children from the orphanage, and

they went to Beirut where my father Georgie was born. Years

later, they were also blessed with two daughters.

``They named their two daughters Lutfia and Gulen in memory

of my grandmother's sisters who lost their lives during the

Armenian Genocide.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today to memorialize and record a courageous story of survival of the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulted in the death of 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children. As the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau documented at the time, it was a campaign of ``race extermination.''

The campaign to annihilate the Armenian people failed, as illustrated by the proud Armenian nation and prosperous diaspora. It is difficult if not impossible to find an Armenian family not touched by the genocide, and while there are some survivors still with us, it is imperative that we record their stories. Through the Armenian Genocide Congressional Record Project, I hope to document the harrowing stories of the survivors in an effort to preserve their accounts and to help educate the Members of Congress now and in the future of the necessity of recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Below is one of those stories:

From Simon Sako Simonian, an Armenian man, on behalf of his father,

Nerses, and grandparents, Johnny and Golanbar

``My Grandfather, Johnny, and my Grandmother, Golanbar,

lived in Orumieh, a city in Iran close to the Turkish border.

They had been blessed with four children (one of them named

Nerses, my Father). My Grandfather was a well-educated and

knowledgeable person. He was fluent in more than 12

languages, as well as one of the few people at that time who

was able to properly and accurately translate and describe

the Bible. He was a respected man--a religious man devoted to

God. He was so highly respected that whenever the Consul of

the U.S. would go there, he would always request to meet with

my Grandfather.

``During the Armenian Genocide, the Shah (King) of Iran was

a very weak person; therefore the Turks were able to enter

Iran and do the mass killing and elimination of Armenians and

Christians in that area.

``One day, during the dark years of the Armenian Genocide,

a group of Turkish soldiers knocked on my Grandfather's door.

One of the Turkish soldiers told my Grandfather that they

were going to kill him and that he should speak now or never

if he had any requests. My Grandfather said that his only

wish is for them to let him pray just one more time. He was

allowed to step forward to the courtyard for his prayer. As

soon as he

raised his hands towards the sky to God to start his prayer,

he was shot and killed from behind.

``He was shot and killed from behind, without a single word

of prayer being spoken from his lips. They also killed my

Grandmother.

``The four children, one of them being Nerses, were hiding.

When this occurred, they fled out and joined the crowd in the

street running away as fast as they could. All four children

ranged anywhere from 10 to 16 years old. During this time, my

father, Nerses, caught a severe cold since he was out in the

cold for 20 to 25 days. Orumich is cold, especially during

the time of this occurrence. However, my father was soon

taken in and cared for by the Presbyterian Church in Iran,

where he was cared for for a few years.

``Sadly, he was still not feeling well, and soon developed

a kidney malfunction. In 1929, regardless of his fragile

state, he married Sophia, the love of his life in Masjed

Suleiman, which is a city located in the southwest region of

Iran.

``My father passed away at the young age of 38, when I was

only two years old. He left behind his written testimony--his

terrifying and heartbreaking memories of the Armenian

Genocide. This is why I can share all this with you today.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today to memorialize and record a courageous story of survival of the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulted in the death of 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children. As the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau documented at the time, it was a campaign of ``race extermination.''

The campaign to annihilate the Armenian people failed, as illustrated by the proud Armenian nation and prosperous diaspora. It is difficult if not impossible to find an Armenian family not touched by the genocide, and while there are some survivors still with us, it is imperative that we record their stories. Through the Armenian Genocide Congressional Record Project, I hope to document the harrowing stories of the survivors in an effort to preserve their accounts and to help educate the Members of Congress now and in the future of the necessity of recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Below is one of those stories:

Submitted by Katia Kusherian, Whose Mother Is 95 Years Old and Also

Contributed by Providing Details Included in the Following Stories

``Here are some of the many stories I have heard from my

parents.

``My first story: In 1915, my father's parents were killed,

and my father, Hovannes, became an orphan. My father was from

Tigranakert. A Turkish woman adopted him and he lived in that

family. He had to go to the fields every morning to work. His

stepmother's older son rode a horse and my father always had

to run to keep up with the

horse. And every morning the young Turkish boy repeated to my

father asking: `What are you going to do geavour, if I kill

you.' My father did not answer. Eventually my father's

stepmother told my father that one day her son will kill him

for sure. She finds a way to send my father to Syria.

``This is how my father stayed alive. When we talk about

kind Turks, I think we should not forget that the main

purpose was to assimilate the orphans, so it was half

kindness.

``My second story and my third story are about my

grandmother--mother's mother--Armaveni. She was born in

Ichmee (a village) and got married to Serovbe Beylerian and

moved to Ortagyoukh. Both villages are in Keyvee, which was a

small county near Adabazar near Istanbul. The county of

Keyvee had five villages--Ichmee, Ortagyoukh, Knjelar,

Kurdpelenk and Partizak.

``My second story: During the deportation from their

village, Ichmee, near the city of Adabazar, the Turks forced

my grandmother's father, Voskan, to do his natural needs--of

course there was no toilet--in front of his children and

daughters-in-law to humiliate him, and before he finished,

they pushed and kicked him in his back. Later on they were

killed and only some of the children, including my

grandmother, escaped.

``My third story: Gayanee, the survivor in this story, was

from Ortagyoukh. My grandmother Armaveni and Gayanee met in

Romania after the Genocide. A group of Armenians were tied up

with ropes and shot. Among them, one young girl named Gayanee

survived. After the shooting, at night, long-bearded men with

curved swords--yataghans--came to check if anyone from that

group was still alive. They were slashing the bodies with

their swords to ensure no one would stay alive. Gayanee

managed to crawl under the dead bodies and covered herself

with them. Fortunately, they did not notice her. After the

Turks left, she crawled out and ran. She had no food or

water. Even though Gayanee escaped and remained alive, she

was spiritually handicapped and later died at a young age

after developing TB.

``I never had grandparents from my father's side. They were

all killed by Turks. I hope their souls will rest in peace.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Pasadena Host Lions Club as it celebrates 90 years of service.

Since its beginning on March 26, 1920, with 41 charter members, the Pasadena Host Lions Club has tirelessly served the Pasadena community as part of the Lions Clubs International, a globally recognized organization that boasts over 1.4 million volunteers and 45,000 clubs throughout the world. Former President Jimmy Carter is one of the most notable living Lions.

The Lions clubs, ``Knights of the Blind,'' as Helen Keller once called them, are well-known for their support of organizations that serve the sight impaired. Although the Pasadena Lions Club follows this tradition, such as its well-known support of a ``White Cane'' drive in the 1920s, the club is also active in other community activities. In the 1930s, the club, as a member of United Service Clubs, helped Pasadena enter its first float in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade, and has been involved with this tradition ever since, eventually building the first annual Lions float in the 1990s. In 1933, amidst the chaos of the Long Beach earthquake, Pasadena Lions were among the first responders, providing financial relief and ambulance service to victims. The 1940s brought the pandemonium of World War II, a war in which many members served, and during which the club assisted in the war effort by selling tens of thousands of war bonds; additionally, during this time, the club donated an iron lung to Huntington Memorial Hospital. In the 1950s, the club bought land and a building to house the Braille Club of Pasadena; during the 1960s, the club purchased the land and established the Vista Nova Home of the Blind in Pasadena; and in the 1970s, the Pasadena Host Lions Club helped to found the Lions Eye Foundation of Southern California. Also in the 1970s, the club was recognized as the all-time fundraising Lions Club in its district.

Over the many decades, the Pasadena Host Lions Club has expanded its charitable efforts to support many organizations in the Pasadena area, including Longfellow Elementary School, Union Station Homeless Services, Rosemary Children's Services, Huntington Memorial Hospital, and Partners in Education, while continuing their support of the Pasadena Braille Club, Vista Nova Home of the Blind and the White Cane effort. In addition, the club developed youth Leo Clubs in elementary and high schools in Pasadena, installing youth with the spirit of volunteer leadership.

The Pasadena Host Lions Club has tirelessly served the Pasadena area over the last nine decades and the residents have benefitted greatly from their generosity. I ask all Members to join with me in commending the Pasadena Host Lions Club on their landmark 90th anniversary.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Richard Harris on his recent election to the Board of Directors at the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, NAFCU.

Mr. Harris has shown tremendous leadership at Caltech Federal Credit Union, where he currently serves as president and CEO, as well as treasurer of the Caltech Credit Union Board of Directors. Undoubtedly, NAFCU will benefit greatly from Mr. Harris's vast experience in credit union management which dates back to 1981.

Over the years Mr. Harris has been an active member of the NAFCU family and is a welcomed addition to the board at a time when Congress has taken up legislation that would significantly reform the financial services sector and the way credit unions do business.

It is because of the good work and leadership of Richard and others like him that the credit union community enjoys the success it has today. Such service is the hallmark of credit unions and I wish Mr. Harris the best of luck in his new role as a member of the NAFCU Board of Directors. I look forward to working with him in this capacity and I ask my colleagues to join me today in congratulating Richard on this achievement.

Mr. Speaker, the recent vote in the United Nations Security Council to impose a new round of tougher economic sanctions on Iran was a significant national security success for the United States, and part of President Obama's broader push to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism or accidental nuclear exchange.

For years there has been a broad consensus that a terrorist attack with a nuclear weapon is the gravest threat facing our country. During the 2004 Presidential debates, both Senator John Kerry and President Bush pointed to such an attack as the ultimate nightmare scenario. Unfortunately, the prior administration failed to make nonproliferation a priority and blocked any progress at the 2005 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, putting the international nonproliferation regime at risk.

President Obama came into office pledging to make nuclear nonproliferation a priority, and he has delivered on multiple fronts: First, by increasing American and international pressure on Iran; and second, by working with Russia and others to reduce both countries' stockpiles of nuclear weapons and material.

The Iran resolution, one of the most important to emerge from the Security Council in years, is a triumph for American diplomacy. When the President took office last January, the United States was diplomatically isolated, and unwilling to engage in the hard work of diplomacy that would pressure Iran to engage seriously with the international community. But that has now changed.

The U.N. resolution increases the pressure on Iran to abandon its quest for nuclear weapons by expanding the list of organizations and individuals subject to financial restrictions and travel bans. And significantly, it also prevents and prohibits most conventional arms sales to Iran, a major step considering that veto-wielding Russia and China have been Iran's major arms suppliers for years.

While Iran has remained outwardly defiant in the wake of the June 9 resolution, the U.N. resolution was quickly followed by a fresh round of European Union sanctions, and by our passage of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Accountability and Divestment Act, which was signed into law today by President Obama. These new sanctions have had an immediate effect. Just days after Congress passed the legislation, France's Total, the last major Western energy company dealing with Iran, announced that it would stop providing refined petroleum to Tehran, while South Korea's GS Engineering and Construction canceled a $1.2 billion gas project in Iran.

The stakes are clear. If Tehran's nuclear weapons program were to bear fruit, elements of the Iranian regime could divert a weapon or materials to a terrorist group under its control, perhaps Hamas or Hezbollah. An Iranian bomb could also trigger a nuclear arms race in the world's most volatile region. This cannot be allowed to happen. And President Obama and this Congress are determined that it shall not happen.

The last 2 years have also seen a revitalization of our efforts to assert American leadership in nuclear nonproliferation. President Obama was the leader in the Senate on nuclear terrorism and nonproliferation issues. I had the pleasure of working with him then to strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspection program. Now as President, we are again working together, and the President recently signed legislation that I authored to develop our nuclear forensic capability.

The President has also proposed budgets that significantly increase investment in nonproliferation efforts and technologies. He understands we can't face this threat alone. There are 50 tons of unsecured nuclear material around the world. And to succeed in bringing it under lock and key, we must convince many Nations that this is a security risk for all.

Last September, the President led an extraordinary meeting of the Security Council to bring nuclear security the worldwide attention it needs. And this April he hosted the largest summit meeting that America has ever seen to convince world leaders that this is not only an important problem, but an urgent one. The summit produced a worldwide consensus to secure nuclear materials around the world within 4 years, a groundbreaking plan that the administration and Congress are now implementing.

On April 8, President Obama signed a treaty with Russia to cut nuclear weapons by 30 percent. This too is a crucial step forward. By working with Russians to reduce their arsenals and ours, we remove unthinkably dangerous weapons from high alert, and demonstrate that building nuclear weapons is not a sign of a world power; getting rid of them is.

There is much work yet to be done. But President Obama and the leadership in Congress have clearly returned the issue of nonproliferation to the center of the policy debate, where it belongs.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Michael Escalante, whose tenure as Superintendent of the Glendale Unified School District has contributed substantially to its increases in student achievement. This feat is especially commendable considering the significant fiscal challenges the district has been and is currently facing.

The Glendale Unified School District is an impressive school system in its own right, encompassing 27,000 students and 2,500 employees at 31 schools--twenty-three of which have been recognized as California Distinguished Schools, nine as National Blue Ribbon schools, and 11 as Title 1 Achieving Schools.

As its Superintendent, Dr. Escalante has guided GUSD towards many more distinctions and accomplishments. Under his leadership, the district has garnered many state and national awards for student achievement, helped establish and expand programs such as the Foreign Language Academies of Glendale, and created Focus on Results, a district-wide professional development plan.

Even more impressively, Dr. Escalante's accomplishments stretch back before his role as superintendent. Prior to joining GUSD, Dr. Escalante began his teaching career at the elementary and high school levels and served for seven years in this capacity. He subsequently rose through the ranks to enter other administrative assignments, including Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, administrative assistant, elementary principal, intermediate principal, and two separate tenures as a high school principal. Dr. Escalante's experience is extensive and he has worked in several school districts, including Hawthorne, Centinela Valley, Santa Monica, Malibu, Palos Verdes Peninsula, and Long Beach Unified. As evidenced by the GUSD's successes, his wide breadth and sheer depth of experience has clearly been invaluable to its development.

Dr. Michael Escalante has been a tremendous asset to the Glendale Unified School District and to the City of Glendale, and I ask all members to join me in thanking him for his dedicated service to education.

Madam Speaker, on rollcall Nos. 380 and 381, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Last week's interdiction by the Israeli Navy of a small flotilla of ships trying to run the blockade on Hamas-controlled Gaza ignited a firestorm around the world.

Foreign commentators, who look askance at the Jewish state in the best of times, condemned the raid in the strongest of terms, attempting to cast it as another example of Israel's supposed slide toward South African-style apartheid or even fascism.

Here and in Israel, itself, the reaction reflected a deeper understanding of the broad spectrum of threats confronting Israel. The execution of the raid, itself, was criticized in some quarters, but there remains a fundamental understanding of the underlying conditions that gave rise to Israel's blockade of Gaza and a realization that those conditions persist and that, as long as Gaza remains under the control of Hamas, there can be no lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Hamas leaders and their masters in Tehran and Damascus have repeatedly refused to renounce terror, to abide by agreements signed by the Palestinian Authority and Israel and to recognize Israel's right to exist. They have used Gaza's impoverished population as human shields in their war of attrition with Israel and have subordinated their people's needs to the quest for rockets and other weapons. Two days ago, Israeli forces intercepted an armed squad of five terrorists who were wearing diving suits and who were apparently on their way to attack Israeli targets.

Madam Speaker, there can be no doubt that these are dangerous times for Israel and that America must stand by the Middle East's only democracy in its quest for peace and security.

Despite four rounds of U.N. sanctions, including today's passage of tighter finance curbs and an expanded arms embargo, Iran has not been deterred in its quest to develop nuclear weapons. While this latest round of sanctions is a welcomed step, there is deep skepticism that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the hard-line clerics who rule Iran can be dissuaded from their present course. An Iran armed with the bomb would be a catastrophe, destabilizing the Middle East and triggering an arms race in the region.

President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have done a great service to Israel, to the greater Middle East, and to the cause of international peace and security through their efforts to forge a consensus in the Security Council, and I offer them my personal thanks. Yet, even as we applaud today's sanctions vote, we must redouble our efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and I look forward to further diplomatic and unilateral initiatives to convince Tehran that the costs of continuing on this reckless path are greater than any perceived benefit.

Hezbollah, the Shiite militia cum political party created in Lebanon by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1983, has rearmed in the aftermath of the 2006 war with Israel. Its arsenal of short-range missiles has reportedly been augmented by longer range Scuds, which can reach targets throughout Israel. The Scuds, believed to be supplied by Syria, augment Hezbollah's existing stockpile of up to 40,000 rockets stored in underground bunkers in southern Lebanon.

Turkey, which had been Israel's strongest Muslim majority ally and an important mediator between Jerusalem and Arab capitals, has, in recent months, become deeply hostile to Israel. In addition to hosting the organizers of the Gaza flotilla, Turkey has said it would reduce military and trade ties, and it has put off discussions of energy projects, including natural gas and freshwater shipments. Last year, Prime Minister Erdogan accused Israel of being a greater violator of human rights than Sudan, and today, Turkey was one of only two votes against new rounds of sanctions against Iran in the Security Council.

Most worrisome in the long term is the broad-based international campaign to delegitimize Israel. University campuses have been divided by divestment campaigns. There have been academic and economic boycotts of Israel in Europe, and many Israelis are wary of traveling to several European countries.

The great majority of the world's people alive today were not born until well after World War II and did not bear witness to the Holocaust. They did not watch as thousands of Jewish refugees, desperate to start new lives in Palestine after the war, were forcibly prevented from entering the country by Britain. They did not witness the miracle of Israel's birth in 1948 and

the immediate invasion of the new state by five Arab armies.

For more than six decades, this country has stood by Israel. We have admired its pluck, its ingenuity, and its dedication to democratic principles in spite of all of the threats it faces. While there has always been a strategic dimension to the U.S.-Israel alliance, the relationship has really been rooted in our shared values.

Madam Speaker, 17 years ago, on the occasion of the signing of the Oslo Accords, late Prime Minister Rabin spoke movingly of his journey.

He said, ``We have come from Jerusalem, the ancient and eternal capital of the Jewish people. We have come from an anguished and grieving land. We have come from a people, a home, a family, that has not known a single year--not a single month--in which mothers have not wept for their sons. We have come to try and put an end to the hostilities so that our children and our children's children will no longer have to experience the painful cost of war, violence, and terror.

``We have come to secure their lives and to ease the sorrow and the painful memories of the past--to hope and pray for peace.''

We share the prime minister's sorrow, and to the people of Israel, we say, America is with you.

Madam Speaker, Israel has the right and the duty to defend its citizens from attack, and it is both reasonable and prudent to interdict weapons from being smuggled into Gaza.

Last Monday's confrontation between Israeli naval forces and a group of activists seeking to bring supplies to the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip was tragic, and I join the worldwide outpouring of grief over the deaths of nine people aboard the Mavi Marmara.

In the midst of his tragedy, we must not forget that Israel has been engaged in a protracted struggle with Hamas, a terrorist organization that has repeatedly stated that it will never accept Israel's right to exist, and which has used the 1.4 million people of Gaza as human shields for rocket attacks and other acts of terror against Israeli citizens.

The Turkish group that organized the flotilla, the IHH, must accept responsibility for the loss of life aboard the ship by deliberately provoking a confrontation with Israeli Navy personnel enforcing a legal blockade of Gaza. Rather than accepting Israel's offer to offload its cargo in Israel for subsequent transport via the land crossings into Gaza, the Mavi Marmara chose to try to run the blockade and then resisted the Israeli boarding party, beating Israeli troops with metal pipes and other weapons. In the days since the incident, it has been revealed some of those aboard the ship were jihadist provocateurs seeking a clash with the Israeli military. And regrettably in this, they were successful.

The international community must show greater resolve in forcing Hamas to renounce terror, accept Israel's right to exist, and abide by prior agreements. We must work together with Israel to meet the urgent needs of the people of Gaza, but Hamas bears ultimate responsibility for the continued suffering of the people of that region.

Madam Speaker, I rise to commend Archbishop Hovnan Derderian on the 30th anniversary of his ordination into the Priesthood and the 20th anniversary of his elevation to the rank of Bishop. Archbishop Derderian is Primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church of North America. The Western Diocese covers the Western United States.

Archbishop Derderian was born in 1957 in Beirut, Lebanon. In 1980, he was ordained as a priest in the Armenian Apostolic Church. In

1987 Archbishop Derderian received his Master's Degree in Theology from Oxford University, and was raised to the rank of ``Dzairakuyn Vartabed.'' In 1990 he was elected Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church in Canada, and later in 1990, was ordained as a Bishop by His Holiness Vazken I. On February 18, 1993 he was made an Archbishop. In 2003, Archbishop Derderian was elected Primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America by the 76th Annual Assembly.

Since being elevated to the rank of Archbishop, he has led many projects of great importance to the Church and the community. He created the Christian Youth Mission to Armenia in 2003 which builds ties between youths living in America to Armenia through travel and internship programs. Under his leadership, the Church is nearing completion of the first ever Cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church on the West Coast, located in Burbank, California. Additionally, since his appointment as Primate he has ordained five new priests to serve the Western Diocese.

Archbishop Derderian's commitment to serving the faithful and the community are admirable. I congratulate him on his 30 years of service in the Priesthood and thank him for his leadership.