2013 -- H 6034

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LC02411

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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2013

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H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N

DESIGNATING APRIL 24TH, 2013, AS "RHODE ISLAND REMEMBRANCE OF THE

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE OF 1915-1923"

     Introduced By: Representatives Kazarian, Corvese, Nunes, Mattiello, and Chippendale

     Date Introduced: April 24, 2013

     Referred To: House read and passed

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     WHEREAS, Armenians living in their historic homeland in Asia Minor were subjected to

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severe persecution and brutal injustice by the Turkish rulers of the Ottoman Empire before and

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after the turn of the twentieth century, including widespread acts of destruction, mayhem, and

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murder during the period from 1894 to 1896, and again in 1909; and

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     WHEREAS, The horrible experience of the Armenians at the hands of their Turkish

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oppressors culminated with what is known by historians as the "First Genocide of the Twentieth

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Century" or the "Forgotten Genocide"; and

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     WHEREAS, The Armenian Genocide began with the murder of hundreds of Armenian

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intellectuals and political, religious, and business leaders who were arrested and taken from their

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homes in Constantinople before dawn on April 24, 1915; and

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     WHEREAS, The Young Turk regime then in control of the empire planned and executed

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the unspeakable atrocities committed against the Armenians from 1915 through 1923, including

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the torture, starvation, and murder of 1.5 million Armenians, death marches into the Syrian

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desert, and the exile of more than 500,000 innocent people; and

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     WHEREAS, While there were some Turks who jeopardized their safety in order to

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protect Armenians from the slaughter being perpetrated by the Young Turk regime, the massacres

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of the Armenians constituted one of the most atrocious violations of human rights in the history

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of the world; and

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     WHEREAS, The United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau,

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Sr., stated "Whatever crimes the most perverted instincts of the human mind can devise, and

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whatever refinements of persecutions and injustice the most debased imagination can

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conceive, became the daily misfortunes of other devoted people. I am confident that the whole

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history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and

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persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the

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Armenian race in 1915. The killing of the Armenian people was accompanied by the systematic

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destruction of churches, schools, libraries, treasures of art, and cultural monuments in an

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attempt to eliminate all traces of a noble civilization with a history of more than 3,000 years";

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and

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     WHEREAS, Contemporary newspapers like the New York Times carried headlines

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including, "Tales of Armenian Horrors Confirmed," "Million Armenians Killed or in Exile,"

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and "Wholesale Massacre of Armenians by Turks"; and

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     WHEREAS, Adolph Hitler, in persuading his army commanders that the merciless

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persecution and killing of Jews, Poles, and other groups of people would bring no retribution,

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declared, "Who after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians"; and

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     WHEREAS, Unlike other groups and governments that have admitted the abuses and

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crimes of predecessor regimes, and despite the overwhelming weight of the evidence, the

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Republic of Turkey has denied the occurrence of the crimes against humanity committed by the

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Young Turk rulers, and those denials compound the grief of the few remaining survivors of the

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atrocities and desecrate the memory of the victims; and

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     WHEREAS, Nations of the world have suffered reprisals and condemnations by Turkey

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because of efforts to commemorate the Armenian Genocide; and

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     WHEREAS, There have been concerted efforts to revise history through the

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dissemination of propaganda suggesting that Armenians were responsible for their fate in the

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period from 1915 through 1923  and  by  the  funding  of  programs  at  American  educational

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 institutions  for  the  purpose  of furthering the cause of this revisionism and to counter, in

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the words of a Turkish official, "the Armenian view"; and

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     WHEREAS, Leaders of nations with strategic, commercial, and cultural ties to the

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Republic of Turkey should be reminded of their duty to encourage Turkish officials to cease

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efforts to distort facts and deny the history of events surrounding the Armenian Genocide; and

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     WHEREAS, The accelerated level and scope of denial and revisionism, coupled with the

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passage of time and the fact that very few survivors remain who serve as reminders of

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indescribable brutality and tormented lives, compel a sense of urgency in efforts to solidify

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recognition of historical truth; and

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     WHEREAS,  By  consistently  remembering  and  forcefully  condemning  the  atrocities

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 committed against the Armenians and honoring the survivors, as well as other victims of similar

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heinous conduct, we guard against repetition of those acts of genocide; and

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     WHEREAS, Rhode Island is home to a large population of Armenians, and those citizens

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have enriched our state through their leadership in the fields of business, agriculture, academia,

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medicine, government, and the arts and are proud and patriotic practitioners of American

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citizenship; now, therefore be it

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     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and

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Providence Plantations hereby designates April 24, 2013, as "Rhode Island Remembrance of the

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Armenian Genocide of 1915 - 1923"; and be it further

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     RESOLVED, That this House hereby respectfully memorializes the Congress of the

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United States to likewise act to commemorate the Armenian Genocide; and be it further

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     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

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transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to The Honorable Barack Obama, President of the

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United States, the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation, The Honorable Lincoln Chafee,

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Governor of the State of Rhode Island, and The Armenian National Committee in Washington,

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D.C.

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LC02411

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