2024 -- S 3096 | |
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LC006187 | |
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2024 | |
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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 | |
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Introduced By: Senators Raptakis, Burke, Gallo, Tikoian, Euer, Cano, Kallman, | |
Date Introduced: May 28, 2024 | |
Referred To: Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar | |
1 | WHEREAS, Rhode Island is proud to be the home of numerous ethnic communities, |
2 | many of whom have prospered and enjoyed the freedom and democracy upon which our nation |
3 | was founded; tragically, throughout history, the people of many countries have not realized the |
4 | same autonomy and equality; and |
5 | WHEREAS, From 1914 until 1922, in a systematic attempt to exterminate an entire |
6 | population, the Ottoman Turks directed the killing of 353,000 Pontian and Anatolian Greeks and |
7 | over a million Armenians and Assyrians living in Pontos, and an equal number who were forced |
8 | to flee their homeland in one of the most condemnable atrocities in the history of the world; and |
9 | WHEREAS, The Ottoman and Kemals Neoturks engaged in exile, starvation, slaughter, |
10 | and murder, using axes and fire to massacre the Pontic Greek population and perpetrate the first |
11 | mass genocide of the 20th century, and the Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by |
12 | the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, and resulted in the deportation of nearly 2,000,000 |
13 | Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed, and the remaining |
14 | 500,000 survived but were expelled from their homes; and |
15 | WHEREAS, It is vital and proper to remember those who lost their lives in the Pontian |
16 | Genocide, and it is paramount that people of all nations look at this horrific event in our world’s |
17 | not-so-distant history as a way to learn a valuable lesson, so that such atrocities are not tolerated |
18 | and are never committed again; and |
19 | WHEREAS, It is likewise important to pay tribute to the survivors of this atrocious |
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1 | period, as well as their descendants, who have made countless contributions to the enrichment of |
2 | our culture and our way of life here in the Ocean State and who stand as an inspiration to |
3 | oppressed people around the world; and |
4 | WHEREAS, The year 2024 will be memorialized throughout the world as the symbolic |
5 | 105th Anniversary of the Genocide of the Pontian Greeks. May we never forget the brutality the |
6 | Pontian Greeks experienced at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, and may we learn the hard |
7 | lessons from the past so that the history of the Pontian Genocide, and all Genocides, never happen |
8 | again; now, therefore be it |
9 | RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby joins the Greek- |
10 | American community on May 19th of each year in a solemn commemoration of the Pontian |
11 | Genocide of 1914-1922; and be it further |
12 | RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to |
13 | transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to Gus Tsiflidis, President the Pan-Pontian |
14 | Federation of USA and Canada, and Georgios Gialtouridis of the Pontian Society "Panagia |
15 | Soumela" Boston, and Ioannis Konstantatos, Mayor of the Municipality of Ellinikon- |
16 | Argyroupolis, Athens, Greece. |
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LC006187 | |
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