June 21, 2007

SENATE RESOLUTION No. 115

STATE OF NEW JERSEY 212th LEGISLATURE Sponsored by:

Senator GERALD CARDINALE

District 39 (Bergen)

Senator JOSEPH M. KYRILLOS, JR.

District 13 (Middlesex and Monmouth)

SYNOPSIS Designates April 24, 2008 as "Armenian Martyrs' Day."

A SENATE RESOLUTION designating April 24, 2008 as "Armenian Martyrs' Day."

WHEREAS, On April 24, 1915, under the leadership of the Young Turk Party of the Ottoman Empire, about 300 Armenian leaders, writers, thinkers, and professionals were rounded up, deported, and killed in Constantinople or present-day Istanbul, Turkey; and

WHEREAS, On that same day, about 5,000 of the poorest Armenians were butchered by battalions in their homes and in the streets; and

WHEREAS, These events are emblematic of what is today recognized by scholars, governments, and civil society all over the world as the Armenian Genocide of World War I, when from 1915 through 1923, the Young Turk leadership of the Ottoman Empire orchestrated the persecution and death of approximately 1.5 million of the 2.5 million Armenians then living in Anatolia or present-day Turkey; and

WHEREAS, In the face of so much evidence to the contrary it is dangerous to deny, as the government of Turkey does today, that the Armenian Genocide ever happened; and

WHEREAS, The danger of denial manifested itself as early as the 1920s when, on the eve of sending his troops into Poland in World War II, Hitler himself said: "Go, kill without mercy... Who today remembers the annihilation of the Armenians?"; and

WHEREAS, We shall commemorate with the Armenian community in New Jersey, the United States, Armenia, and the world these events that today call upon us to ensure that such history does not repeat itself; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:

1. This House designates April 24, 2008 as "Armenian Martyrs' Day," and urges Governor Jon S. Corzine to memorialize this day in recognition that the tragic events of 1915 and the following years should be remembered by those of us living today.

2. Duly authenticated copies of this resolution, signed by the Senate President and attested by the Secretary thereof, shall be transmitted to Governor Jon S. Corzine.

STATEMENT

This resolution designates April 24, 2008 as "Armenian Martyrs' Day," in commemoration of the persecution and death of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 through 1923 in Anatolia, present- day Turkey, under the rule of the Young Turk Party of the Ottoman Empire. These events are widely recognized today by scholars, governments, and civil society groups around the world as the Armenian Genocide of World War I.