PRINTER'S NO. 744
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
86
Session of
2017
INTRODUCED BY LEACH, APRIL 24, 2017
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, APRIL 24, 2017
A RESOLUTION
Designating April 24, 2017, as "Pennsylvania's Day of
Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923."
WHEREAS, The Armenian Genocide 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 genocide is also known as the Armenian Holocaust
and the Armenian Massacres and, traditionally by Armenians, as
Medz Yeghern, which is translated as "Great Crime"; and
WHEREAS, The genocide is considered to have begun on April
24, 1915, the date that Ottoman authorities rounded up and
arrested several hundred 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 genocide of the Armenian people has been
recognized as an attempt to eliminate all traces of a thriving
and noble civilization more than 3,000 years old; and
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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 102nd 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, 2017, as
"Pennsylvania's Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide of
1915-1923."
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