April 4, 1990

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

SENATE RESOLUTION

commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

Introduced By: Senators Orabona and Goodwin
Date Introduced: April 4, 1990
Referred To: Read and Passed

WHEREAS, In the 75 years since the onset of the Armenian massacre, time and recent events have obscured the enormity of the crime in the minds of the vast majority of the world's peoples; and

WHEREAS, Because the extermination of one and one-half million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks, and the deportation of hundreds of thousands more, came to an end seven decades ago, we tend to consider this genocide in the light of history, a horrible crime, eminently regrettable, but finished; and

WHEREAS, The effects of the Armenian genocide are with us in the prospect of over half the world's Armenians living in a diaspora and the rest in the Armenian Soviet Republic, while a vast portion of historical Armenia holds no trace of the ancient people, who, for over thirty centuries, called it their home; and

WHEREAS, Modern Turkey continues to deny or distort the facts of the genocide and honors the designer of the crime as a noble warrior defending the empire against insurgents; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations hereby commemorates the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the government of Turkey on this 75th anniversary of the beginning of that horrific process and identifies with the Armenian people throughout the world in their just struggle to bring to an international court of law their case against the government of Turkey; and be it further

RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations hereby supports the cause of the Armenian people to establish an independent and free state to include the current Soviet Armenian Republic, the regions in the Soviet Union known as Kharabagh and Nakichevan and all of the territories designated as Armenia by the Treaty of Sevres; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and she hereby is authorized and directed to transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the Armenian National Committee of Rhode Island.