2023 -- S 1027
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S TATE OF RHODE IS LAND
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2023
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S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N
PROCLAIMING MAY 19TH OF 2023 AS "GREEK PONTIAN GENOCIDE
REMEMBRANCE DAY" IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND
Introduced By: Senator Leonidas P. Raptakis
Date Introduced: May 18, 2023
Referred To: Recommended for Immediate Consideration
WHEREAS, Rhode Island is proud to be the home of numerous ethnic communities, 1
many of whom have prospered and enjoyed the freedom and democracy upon which our nation 2
was founded; tragically, throughout history, the people of many countries have not realized the 3
same autonomy and equality; and 4
WHEREAS, From 1914 until 1922, in a systematic attempt to exterminate an entire 5
population, the Ottoman Turks directed the killing of 353,000 Pontian and Anatolian Greeks and 6
over a million Armenians and Assyrians living in Pontos, and an equal number who were forced 7
to flee their homeland in one of the most condemnable atrocities in the history of the world; and 8
WHEREAS, The Ottoman and Kemals Neoturks engaged in exile, starvation, slaughter, 9
and murder, using axes and fire to massacre the Pontic Greek population and perpetrate the first 10
mass genocide of the 20
th
century, and the Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by 11
the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, and resulted in the deportation of nearly 2,000,000 12
Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed, and the remaining 13
500,000 survived but were expelled from their homes; and 14
WHEREAS, It is vital and proper to remember those who lost their lives in the Pontian 15
Genocide, and it is paramount that people of all nations look at this horrific event in our world’s 16
not-so-distant history as a way to learn a valuable lesson, so that such atrocities are not tolerated 17
and are never committed again; and 18
WHEREAS, It is likewise important to pay tribute to the survivors of this atrocious 19
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period, as well as their descendants, who have made countless contributions to the enrichment of 1
our culture and our way of life here in the Ocean State and who stand as an inspiration to 2
oppressed people around the world; and 3
WHEREAS, The year 2023 will be memorialized throughout the world as the symbolic 4
104
th
Anniversary of the Genocide of the Pontian Greeks. May we never forget the brutality the 5
Pontian Greeks experienced at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, and may we learn the hard 6
lessons from the past so that the history of the Pontian Genocide, and all Genocides, never happen 7
again; now, therefore be it 8
RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby joins the Greek-9
American community on May 19
th
of each year in a solemn commemoration of the Pontian 10
Genocide of 1914-1922; and be it further 11
RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to 12
transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to Gus Tsiflidis, President the Pan-Pontian 13
Federation of USA and Canada, and Georgios Gialtouridis of the Pontian Society "Panagia 14
Soumela" Boston, and Ioannis Konstantatos, Mayor of the Municipality of Ellinikon-15
Argyroupolis, Athens, Greece. 16
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