Lt. Gov. Newsom Issues Proclamation on Genocide Anniversary

Lt. Gov. Newsom Issues Proclamation on Genocide Anniversary

asbarez
Friday, April 27th, 2012

Lieutenan Governor Gavin Newsom
SACRAMENTO – Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation on
the 97th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Below is the text of
that document:

WHEREAS, April 24, 1915, marked the beginning of the Armenian Genocide
which resulted in the death of over two million Armenians as well as
Greeks and Assyrians between 1915 and 1923; and

WHEREAS, nearly half million Armenians who survived the horrors of
extermination were expelled from their homes and forced to settle in
various countries throughout the world; and

WHEREAS, the Armenian Genocide is one of the first modern genocides
which resulted in the near annihilation of a people and the
dispossession of the survivors from their cultural homeland and
heritage; and

WHEREAS, the Republic of Turkey, the successor state to the Ottoman
Empire under which the Genocide was committed, unjustifiably and
adamantly denies the occurrence of this crime against humanity while
actively continuing to remove traces of Armenian existence. This
includes the neglect and intentional destruction of the thousands of
remaining churches throughout the Armenian Highlands which make up
today’s eastern Turkey; and

WHEREAS, the International Association of Genocide Scholars has
repeatedly affirmed that the massacres of Armenians initiated in 1915
constitutes genocide; and

WHEREAS, throughout the 20th Century the Armenian Genocide was
followed by several other genocides and this pattern continues to this
day as seen in the Darfur region of Sudan. If we fail to remember the
lessons of the past and remain silent in deference to a campaign of
denial we embolden current and future perpetrators of genocide; and

WHEREAS, many survivors of the Genocide settled in states around the
country, including California. California has become home to the
largest population of Armenians in the United States and those
citizens have enriched our state through leadership in the fields of
academia, medicine, business, agriculture, government, and the arts
and are proud and patriotic practitioners of American citizenship; and

NOW, THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Lieutenant Governor of the State of
California, do hereby join Californians and the Armenian American
Community in commemorating the 97th Anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide.

From: Baghdasarian