WASHINGTON, DC – House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke on the House Floor today in support of a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Below are excerpts from his remarks and a link to the video:   “This resolution, Mr. Speaker, recognizes the horrific and systematic efforts to commit genocide against the Armenian people a century ago. There can be no denial of the Armenian genocide, which is evidenced by historical documentation and the emotional scars still borne by the descendants of its survivors. It was a campaign of ethnic cleansing, committed by the Ottoman Empire during and after the first World War, and it led to the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians, alongside other targeted groups.”

“Mr. Speaker, as the House joins in condemnation of that genocide and memorializes its victims, let us also keep our attention focused on populations today that are being subjected to ethnic cleansing and forced relocation. From the Rohingya to the Uighurs to the people in Darfur to the Kurdish population being forced from their homes in Syria as we speak, we must declare loudly and clearly: never again. Never again.”

“Sadly, never is now. In particular, our Kurdish allies who fought so courageously to help us defeat ISIS are being forced to leave their homes by Turkey’s campaign to seize control of… Northern Syria. Let today's action in this House be a reminder, Mr. Speaker, to President Erdogan and his government that the United States is watching. The American people will not turn our eyes away. Neither will we turn our eyes away from the millions of others in Syria who have been displaced and the hundreds of thousands who have been killed; who have been bombed, gassed, and brutalized by the Assad regime and its enablers.”

“Mr. Speaker, we need to let the American people's representatives give [the] clear message to [our] Armenian brothers and sisters, to our Kurdish brothers and sisters: we see you; we will not abandon you. Never again.”