April 21, 2015

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THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE RESOLUTION

No.89

A RESOLUTION

Designating April 24, 2015, as "Pennsylvania's Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923."

WHEREAS, The Armenian Genocide, also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, traditionally by Armenians, as Medz Yeghern, which is translated as "Great Crime," was the Ottoman government's systematic extermination of its minority Armenian subjects from their historic homeland within the territory constituting the present-day Republic of Turkey; and

WHEREAS, The starting date of the genocide is conventionally held to be April 24, 1915, the day Ottoman authorities rounded up and arrested some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople; and

WHEREAS, The genocide was carried out between 1915 and 1923 in two phases resulting in an estimated 1.5 million victims; and

WHEREAS, The Armenian genocide and massacres of the Armenian people have been recognized as an attempt to eliminate all traces of a thriving and noble civilization more than 3,000 years old; and

WHEREAS, By consistently remembering and openly condemning the atrocities committed against the Armenians, Pennsylvanians affirm the need for constant vigilance to prevent similar atrocities in the future; and

WHEREAS, The Armenian people have not received reparations for their losses; and

WHEREAS, Recognition of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide and education about past horrors is crucial to ensuring against future genocide; and

WHEREAS, Armenia is now a free and independent republic, having embraced democracy following nearly 70 years of oppressive Soviet domination; and

WHEREAS, Armenian Americans living in Pennsylvania have greatly enriched this Commonwealth through their leadership in business, agriculture, academia, government and the arts; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the Senate designate April 24, 2015, as "Pennsylvania's Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923."