09/26/2014: Issues blog condemning ISIL destruction of the Armenian Genocide Memorial and Church at Der Zor, Syria. - 'The Islamic State is continuing its atrocities, most recently with its destruction of the Armenian Genocide Memorial Church in the Syrian town of Der Zor. The attack, whose results are shown above, was a typical act of Islamic State barbarism, this time aimed at a Christian minority group that has long suffered oppression and even genocide in the region. For my take on fighting the Islamic State and other terror groups, listen to my recent interview with Chris Daniel here.' http://nunes.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=394660

04/24/13 - Statement submitted for the Congressional Record - Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the Armenian Genocide, one of the bloodiest, most tragic occurrences of the twentieth century.

In 1915, the Ottoman Empire began implementing a program to systematically exterminate its Armenian population. Committing crimes so vast that they nearly defy belief, the Ottomans resorted to death marches, human burnings, mass starvation, extermination camps, and other outrages that still shock the human conscience. More than a million people were slaughtered in the carnage.

It is hard to image anyone today visiting Armenia's Tzidzemagapert, the genocide monument and memorial, without being shaken by the experience, as I was. The site is a permanent reminder of the horrifying depravity mankind is capable of when unshackled from any notion of mercy or compassion.

That the Armenian people could recover from such a tragedy, and recover from the ensuing decades of Soviet rule, to establish an independent state in which they control their own destiny, is a tribute to the amazing resiliency and love of freedom harbored by the Armenian nation.

On this anniversary of the beginning of the Genocide, let us remember and honor the victims of this terrible crime.

03/04/13 - Statement submitted for the Congressional Record (jointly by Valadao and Nunes) - Mr. Speaker, I rise today alongside my colleague, Representative DAVID VALADAO, to pay tribute to the people of Nagorno Karabakh.

Armenians have suffered some of the worst savagery of recent history, from the massacre of more than a million people in the Armenian Genocide, to the cruel repression of Soviet rule, to Azerbaijan's war against Nagorno Karabakh and the ongoing siege of that region. Through these trials and tribulations, the Armenian people have paid a steep price for their freedom. The hero's welcome Azerbaijan recently afforded to Ramil Safarov, an Azerbaijani military officer who murdered a sleeping Armenian officer during a NATO-sponsored program in Hungary, is a stark reminder of the unrelenting hostility Armenians face today.

In this year, which marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of another anti-Armenian atrocity--the Sumgait pogroms--we pay homage to the Armenian people and particularly the people of Nagorno Karabakh, who bravely struggle to maintain their right to self-determination.