2023 -- H 6282
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LC002737
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S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2023
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H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N
PROCLAIMING APRIL 24, 2023, AS "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE DAY"
TO COMMEMORATE THE A RMENIAN GENOCIDE OF 1915 TO 1923, AND IN HONOR
OF ARMENIAN-AMERICANS
Introduced By: Representatives Kazarian, Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Corvese,
Chippendale, Solomon, Potter, Baginski, Edwards, and Fellela
Date Introduced: April 18, 2023
Referred To: House read and passed
WHEREAS, The Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by the Ottoman 1
Empire from 1915 to 1923, and resulted in the deportation of nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of 2
whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed, and the remaining 500,000 survived but 3
were expelled from their homes. This act succeeded in the elimination of the Armenians from 4
their historic ancestral homeland where they had resided for over 2,500 years; and 5
WHEREAS, On May 24, 1915, for the first time ever, the Allied Powers of England, 6
France, and Russia, jointly issued a statement explicitly charging another government of 7
committing "a crime against humanity"; and 8
WHEREAS, This joint statement declared, "the Allied Governments announce publicly 9
to the Sublime Porte that they will hold personally responsible for these crimes all members of 10
the Ottoman Government, as well as those of their agents who are implicated in such massacres"; 11
and 12
WHEREAS, United States Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Sr. explicitly described the 13
policy of the Ottoman Empire's government to the United States Department of State as "a 14
campaign of race extermination," and on July 16, 1915, was informed by United States Secretary 15
of State Robert Lansing that the "Department approves your procedure . . . to stop Armenian 16
persecution"; and 17
WHEREAS, The post-World War I Turkish government indicted the top leaders involved 18
in the organization and execution of the Armenian Genocide and in the "massacre and destruction 19
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of the Armenians," and in a series of court-martials, officials of the Young Turk regime were 1
charged, tried and convicted, for organizing and executing massacres against the Armenian 2
people; and 3
WHEREAS, In 1948, the United Nations War Crimes Commission invoked the 4
Armenian Genocide as "precisely . . . one of the types of acts which the modern term 'crimes 5
against humanity' is intended to cover" as a precedent for the Nuremberg tribunals; and 6
WHEREAS, The United States National Archives and Record Administration holds 7
extensive and thorough documentation on the Armenian Genocide, especially in its holdings 8
under Record Group 59 of the United States Department of State, files 867.00 and 867.40, which 9
are open and widely available to the public and interested institutions; and 10
WHEREAS, The United States Holocaust Memorial Council, an independent federal 11
agency, unanimously resolved on April 30, 1981, that the United States Holocaust Memorial 12
Museum would include the Armenian Genocide in the museum and has since done so; and 13
WHEREAS, When one enters the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, there is an 14
exhibit depicting Adolf Hitler, who on ordering his military commanders to attack Poland without 15
provocation in 1939, dismissed objections by stating "[w]ho, after all, speaks today of the 16
annihilation of the Armenians?", thus setting the stage for the Holocaust; and 17
WHEREAS, On April 24, 2021, United States President Joe Biden stated, "…we 18
remember the lives of all those who have died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and 19
recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring"; and 20
WHEREAS, In 1918, after the fall of the Russian Empire, the Azerbaijan Democratic 21
Republic and the First Republic of Armenia both declared independence; however, shortly 22
thereafter, they became part of the Soviet Union. The modern Republic of Azerbaijan once again 23
proclaimed its independence in August of 1991, shortly before the dissolution of the USSR. 24
Within its borders, however, the predominantly Armenian enclave known as the Republic of 25
Artsakh officially voted to become part of Armenia; and 26
WHEREAS, Azerbaijan sought to suppress the separatist movement, while Armenia 27
backed it. Turkey has close ties to Azerbaijan and was the first nation to recognize Azerbaijan's 28
independence in 1991. In 1993, Turkey, in addition to engaging in numerous hostilities, shut its 29
border with Armenia in support of Azerbaijan during the war over the Republic of Artsakh; and 30
WHEREAS, In Turkey's continuing aggression and genocide of Armenians that began 31
more than 100 years ago, the 2020 unprovoked war between Azerbaijan, with military support 32
provided by Turkey, and the Republic of Artsakh has resulted in Artsakh being forced to return 33
many of the surrounding territories it had occupied for millennia; and 34
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WHEREAS, Beginning in May of 2021, Azerbaijan has been making armed incursions 1
into, and taking lands within, Armenian's internationally recognized borders including in the 2
Syunik and Gegharkunik provinces; and 3
WHEREAS, In March through early April of 2022, following several days of escalated 4
tensions, Azerbaijan’s military open fired on Armenian military posts along the western part of 5
the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, and days later, shelled various villages, mostly located along the 6
eastern border of Artsakh; and 7
WHEREAS, Currently, there are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and 8
Azerbaijan, and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has continued to ignite clashes and casualties as 9
recently as March of 2023; now, therefor be it 10
RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby 11
recognizes April 24, 2023, as "Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day" in the State of Rhode 12
Island; and be it further 13
RESOLVED, That this House hereby respectfully requests the President of the United 14
States and the United States Congress to call on the government of Turkey to face history and 15
acknowledge this crime of genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks in 1915, and urge the 16
Turkish government to make restitution for the loss of lives, confiscated properties, and general 17
unlawful deportations, separating the indigenous population from their homeland; and be it 18
further 19
RESOLVED, That this House expresses its deepest sympathy to the Armenian-American 20
community of Rhode Island and assures them that this genocide will always be commemorated 21
and never forgotten; and be it further 22
RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to 23
transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the Honorable Joseph Biden, President of the 24
United States, the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation, the Governor of the State of Rhode 25
Island, the Armenian Assembly of America in Washington, and the Armenian National 26
Committee in Washington. 27
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