Illinois 2023-2024 Regular Session

Illinois Senate Bill SJR0020 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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3	3	1 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
4	4	2 WHEREAS, Assyrians, an ethnic minority group, are the
5	5	3 indigenous people of Mesopotamia and have lived in the Middle
6	6	4 East since ancient times, including in what is today Turkey,
7	7	5 Iraq, Iran, and Syria; and
8	8	6 WHEREAS, Today, Assyrians, also known as Chaldeans and
9	9	7 Syriacs, live around the world, including over 600,000 who
10	10	8 live in the United States and over 80,000 who live in Illinois;
11	11	9 and
12	12	10 WHEREAS, Between 1914 and 1923, the Assyrian Genocide
13	13	11 occurred; during this time, the Ottoman Empire murdered over
14	14	12 300,000 Assyrian men, women, and children by methods that
15	15	13 included mass executions, death marches, torture, and
16	16	14 starvation; and
17	17	15 WHEREAS, During the Assyrian Genocide, also known as the
18	18	16 Seyfo Genocide, the Ottoman Turks and their Kurdish allies
19	19	17 also systematically raped and enslaved Assyrian women and
20	20	18 girls, forced the Assyrians from their ancestral lands, and
21	21	19 pillaged and destroyed their communities; and
22	22	20 WHEREAS, The killings of over two million Armenians,
23	23	21 Assyrians, Greeks, Christians, and other religious minority
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32	32	1 populations represented the culmination of a series of violent
33	33	2 persecutions dating back to the late 1800s; and
34	34	3 WHEREAS, The year 2023 marks the 108th anniversary of the
35	35	4 Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek genocides of 1915; these
36	36	5 genocides were part of the planned eradication of those
37	37	6 indigenous communities by the Ottoman Turkish Empire; yet, to
38	38	7 this day, Turkey has still not recognized these genocides; and
39	39	8 WHEREAS, August 7, 1933 is recognized by the International
40	40	9 Association of Genocide Scholars as the date on which as many
41	41	10 as 6,000 Assyrians were killed at the orders of the Iraqi
42	42	11 government in an event known as the Simele Massacre; this
43	43	12 massacre continued the legacy of persecution exemplified by
44	44	13 the 1915 Assyrian Genocide; and
45	45	14 WHEREAS, August 7th, globally observed by the Assyrian
46	46	15 community as Assyrian Remembrance Day, is in remembrance of
47	47	16 the Simele Massacre and of all persecution the Assyrian people
48	48	17 have faced as a result of their distinct and ancient ethnic and
49	49	18 religious identity; and
50	50	19 WHEREAS, The persecution against Assyrians continues until
51	51	20 this day in their ancestral homeland, where they are
52	52	21 continually targeted for persecution by state and non-state
53	53	22 actors such as the Republic of Turkey, the Republic of Iraq,
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64	64	1 the Kurdistan Regional Government, and the so called Islamic
65	65	2 State of Iraq and the Levant or ISIL; and
66	66	3 WHEREAS, ISIL has persistently destroyed culturally and
67	67	4 historically significant locations and items, including UNESCO
68	68	5 world heritage sites such as the ancient Assyrian city of
69	69	6 Nimrud; and
70	70	7 WHEREAS, The United States House of Representatives and
71	71	8 United States Senate concurrently resolved that "the
72	72	9 atrocities perpetrated by ISIL against Christians, Yezidis,
73	73	10 and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria
74	74	11 constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide";
75	75	12 and
76	76	13 WHEREAS, The denial of genocide is widely recognized as
77	77	14 the final stage of genocide; this denial maintains impunity
78	78	15 for the perpetrators of these atrocities and demonstrably
79	79	16 paves the way for future genocides; and
80	80	17 WHEREAS, The resilience and endurance of the Assyrian
81	81	18 people, despite being victims of a genocide that the Islamic
82	82	19 State continues to perpetuate to this day, is commendable and
83	83	20 praiseworthy; therefore, be it
84	84	21 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL
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95	95	1 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF
96	96	2 REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that RESOLVED, That we
97	97	3 recognize the Assyrian Genocide of 1915 as a genocide and as a
98	98	4 reprehensible crime against humanity, and we honor the memory
99	99	5 of the hundreds of thousands of Assyrians who were murdered;
100	100	6 and be it further
101	101	7 RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois recognizes the Simele
102	102	8 Massacre of 1933 as a genocide and reprehensible crime against
103	103	9 humanity and honors the memory of the thousands of Assyrians
104	104	10 who were murdered during the Simele Massacre of 1933; and be it
105	105	11 further
106	106	12 RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois deplores the
107	107	13 persistent, ongoing efforts by any person, in this country or
108	108	14 abroad, to deny the historical fact of the Assyrian Genocide
109	109	15 or any other genocide; and be it further
110	110	16 RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois respectfully calls
111	111	17 upon the President of the United States to formally and
112	112	18 consistently reaffirm the historical truth that the atrocities
113	113	19 committed against the Assyrian, Armenian, and Greek
114	114	20 populations of the Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1923
115	115	21 constituted genocide; and be it further
116	116	22 RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois encourages education
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127	127	1 and public understanding of the facts of the Assyrian
128	128	2 Genocide, including the United States' role in humanitarian
129	129	3 relief effort and the relevance of the Assyrian Genocide to
130	130	4 modern day crimes against humanity; and be it further
131	131	5 RESOLVED, That we declare August 7, 2023 as Assyrian
132	132	6 Remembrance Day in the State of Illinois.
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