| R 339 |
| 2024 -- S 3096 Enacted 05/30/2024 |
| S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N |
| PROCLAIMING MAY 19TH OF 2024 AS "GREEK PONTIAN GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE DAY" IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND |
Introduced By: Senators Raptakis, Burke, Gallo, Tikoian, Euer, Cano, Kallman, DeLuca, LaMountain, and F. Lombardi |
| Date Introduced: May 28, 2024 |
| WHEREAS, Rhode Island is proud to be the home of numerous ethnic communities, |
| many of whom have prospered and enjoyed the freedom and democracy upon which our nation |
| was founded; tragically, throughout history, the people of many countries have not realized the |
| same autonomy and equality; and |
| WHEREAS, From 1914 until 1922, in a systematic attempt to exterminate an entire |
| population, the Ottoman Turks directed the killing of 353,000 Pontian and Anatolian Greeks and |
| over a million Armenians and Assyrians living in Pontos, and an equal number who were forced |
| to flee their homeland in one of the most condemnable atrocities in the history of the world; and |
| WHEREAS, The Ottoman and Kemals Neoturks engaged in exile, starvation, slaughter, |
| and murder, using axes and fire to massacre the Pontic Greek population and perpetrate the first |
| mass genocide of the 20th century, and the Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by |
| the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, and resulted in the deportation of nearly 2,000,000 |
| Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed, and the remaining |
| 500,000 survived but were expelled from their homes; and |
| WHEREAS, It is vital and proper to remember those who lost their lives in the Pontian |
| Genocide, and it is paramount that people of all nations look at this horrific event in our world’s |
| not-so-distant history as a way to learn a valuable lesson, so that such atrocities are not tolerated |
| and are never committed again; and |
| WHEREAS, It is likewise important to pay tribute to the survivors of this atrocious |
| period, as well as their descendants, who have made countless contributions to the enrichment of |
| our culture and our way of life here in the Ocean State and who stand as an inspiration to |
| oppressed people around the world; and |
| WHEREAS, The year 2024 will be memorialized throughout the world as the symbolic |
| 105th Anniversary of the Genocide of the Pontian Greeks. May we never forget the brutality the |
| Pontian Greeks experienced at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, and may we learn the hard |
| lessons from the past so that the history of the Pontian Genocide, and all Genocides, never happen |
| again; now, therefore be it |
| RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby joins the Greek- |
| American community on May 19th of each year in a solemn commemoration of the Pontian |
| Genocide of 1914-1922; and be it further |
| RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to |
| transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to Gus Tsiflidis, President the Pan-Pontian |
| Federation of USA and Canada, and Georgios Gialtouridis of the Pontian Society "Panagia |
| Soumela" Boston, and Ioannis Konstantatos, Mayor of the Municipality of Ellinikon- |
| Argyroupolis, Athens, Greece. |
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| LC006187 |
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