Transcript [PDF] - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

18
Again I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for bringing this resolution to
the committee.
Chairman BERMAN. The gentleman yields back the balance of his
time. Who wishes to seek recognition The gentleman from American
Samoa, chairman of the Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment
Subcommittee, Mr. Eni Faleomavaega——
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last
word.
Chairman BERMAN [continuing]. Is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Chairman, this is certainly an important
but a sobering occasion for this committee to consider this proposed
resolution. This is not the first time that this resolution has
been brought before the committee and before the Congress for this
institution to determine if there was a genocide committed against
some 2 million Armenians in the years past. It might even be said
that there is still a debate among historians about the validity of
the claim and what has been made.
I recall, Mr. Chairman, a couple years ago that my subcommittee
chaired also a similar type resolution where whether or not some
200,000 Asian women were forced into prostitution systematically
by the Empire Army of the Japanese during World War II, most
of them Koreans, and we even had two Korean women and one
from Australia to personally testify to the atrocities and abuses
that they received when they were under that kind of a situation
under the Japanese Army. In that resolution I recall we wanted
the Japanese Government to apologize for this wrong that was
committed against some 200,000 Asian women during World War
II.
I am terribly torn, Mr. Chairman, by the fact that I have just as
many Turkish-American friends as I have Armenian-American
friends. I am somewhat reminded of King Solomon’s absolute wisdom
when the two mothers appeared before him claiming that they
owned the child. King Solomon said well, why don’t we divide the
baby up and maybe that will take care of the situation. But truly
the mother who really felt so much love for the child pled with
King Solomon and said no, let the other mother. Then knowingly
King Solomon said now I know who the real mother of this child
belongs to.
Mr. Chairman, this is a very important resolution, as has been
said previously by our members. This is not an easy issue, and I
just wanted to ask, Mr. Chairman. My understanding is that there
is currently an ongoing relationship between Armenia and Turkey
and I wanted to ask the chairman.
I believe this is one of the issues that they are trying to resolve
in looking into the facts and the history and all of that, and I wanted
to ask the chairman if he has any understanding of that latest
development between Armenia and Turkey.
Chairman BERMAN. Would the gentleman yield to me
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I gladly yield.
Chairman BERMAN. The gentleman is correct. There are protocols
between Armenia and Turkey that, in fact, our Secretary of State
is very involved in the diplomatic process that has been entered
into. Neither Parliament has ratified those protocols and so currently
the corridor is still blockaded. The terms that that protocol
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