WASHINGTON, DC – Republican Presidential Candidate, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) today marked the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide with a statement calling for the proper recognition of the massacre of Armenian, Assyrian and other Christian peoples as genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

Sen. Cruz’s statement, addressed to the Armenian Church of Austin, was read on the south steps of the Texas State Capitol, during the Austin Peace March and Rally, an observance attended by thousands and organized by the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of Texas.

“Senator Cruz got it right,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “As Americans, we cannot be silent. We must speak the truth. His remarks highlight the Armenian Genocide gag-rule that Ankara continues to enforce on the U.S. government, and spotlight the stark choice facing President Obama this April 24th: to reject or enforce Turkey’s veto on our nation’s Armenian Genocide policy.”

Prior to his election to the oval office, President Obama was clear and unequivocal in his pledge to properly characterize the murder of over 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children from 1915-1923 by the Ottoman Turkish government as genocide. “The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy. As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide,” stated then Senator Obama in a January 19, 2008, statement.

The full text of that statement is available here.

Since his election in 2008, President Obama has yet to honor that pledge. A complete record of Senator Obama’s statements on the Armenian Genocide prior to his election to the White House is available here.

The full text of Senator Cruz’s statement is provided below.

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Senator Ted Cruz
United States Senate
April 18, 2015

Armenian Church of Austin

In Recognition of the Armenian Genocide

100 years ago, the world was too silent as the Armenian people suffered a horrific genocide. Today, we commemorate more than a million souls who were extinguished by the Ottoman Government. Let the terrors of those events awaken in us the courage to always stand for freedom against evil forces. As Pope Francis rightly said, “Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it.”

The massacre of the Armenian, Assyrian and other Christian people should be called what it is: genocide.

Sadly, many today are still unaware of this 20th century atrocity. We cannot neglect the brutality carried out on these innocent souls because we cannot leave any room for them to occur again. If we forget the annals of history, we will not honor those who suffered in the death camps of the Holocaust, Soviet Union, Cambodia, and many others. That is a tragedy we can and should prevent.

As the Russian novelist and Soviet prisoner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn reflected, “In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future.”

I commend your efforts to illuminate the past, and to prevent such injustice from occurring again, whether in your homeland or in any country around the globe. Thank you for your commitment to speaking the truth in love.

May God bless the Armenian people, and me he continue to bless America.

Sincerely,

Ted Cruz
United States Senator