OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Armenian Genocide

Floor Speech

Date: April 21, 2026
Location: Washington, DC

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Ms. FRIEDMAN. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow marks the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the systematic murder of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire. For more than a century, that truth was denied.

I represent California's 30th District, home to the largest Armenian- American community outside of Armenia. For my constituents, this anniversary is not history. It is living memory. It is their friends and family.

Unfortunately, aggression against Armenians is happening again. More than 120,000 Armenians have been ethnically cleansed from Artsakh, their ancestral homeland, and 23 prisoners remain unjustly detained in Azerbaijan. Sacred cultural and religious sites are being destroyed. These are sites that I had the honor of visiting several years ago.

Today, I recommit to fighting to demand the release of every Armenian prisoner of war, the end of military aid to Azerbaijan, and the right of displaced Artsakh families to return home to their lands. I will fight to protect Armenia from ongoing threats from Turkiye and Azerbaijan.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to mark this solemn occasion.

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