April 24, 2006

City of Albuquerque

New Mexico

Executive Order

From the desk of Mayor Martin J. Chavez

Whereas, from 1915 to 1923, one and one-half million men, women and children of Armenian descent were victims of a brutal genocide perpetrated by the Turkish Ottoman Empire; and

Whereas, up to another 500,000 Armenians were forcibly deported, deprived of their homes, their possessions and their dignity during that eight-year reign of terror; and

Whereas, the Armenian Genocide has been recognized as an attempt to eliminate all traces of a thriving and noble historic civilization more than 3,000 thousand years old; and

Whereas, before the implementation of the Jewish Holocaust, in order to encourage his followers, Adolph Hitler asked, "Who remembers the Armenians today?"; and

Whereas, the Armenian Genocide was cited during the Nuremberg trials as the basis for the emergence of the Nuremberg law on Crimes against Humanity; and

Whereas, it is critically important for our city and nation to remember and acknowledge what happened to the Armenians in order to help prevent future genocides; and

Whereas, by remembering and openly condemning the atrocities committed against the Armenians, Albuquerqueans are highly sensitive to the need for constant vigilance to prevent similar atrocities in the future; and

Now, therefore, I, Martin J. Chavez, Mayor of the City of Albuquerque, New Mexico, do hereby proclaim April 24th, 2006, as

"Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day"

in honor of the innocent Armenians brutally murdered, in order to teach the horrors of genocide so that the crime may be eliminated from the human condition.

Order No. 06-36

[signed]

Martin J. Chavez, Mayor