Senate Resolution No. 682

BY: Senator GOUNARDES

MEMORIALIZING Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim
April 24, 2023, as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day
in the State of New York

WHEREAS, This resolution arises from a sense of human decency and
respect for the Armenian people and their history; and

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to memorialize
Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim April 24, 2023, as Armenian Genocide
Remembrance Day in the State of New York; and

WHEREAS, During the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, 1.5 million men,
women, and children of Armenian descent, and hundreds of thousands of
Assyrian and Greek descent, lost their lives at the hands of the Ottoman
Turkish Empire in its attempt to systematically eliminate the Armenian
race, while hundreds of thousands had become homeless and stateless
refugees; and

WHEREAS, April 24, 1915, is globally observed as the commencement of
the Armenian Genocide because the arrest on that day, and subsequent
execution, of several hundred Armenian leaders alerted the world about
the Ottoman Turks' genocidal plan; and

WHEREAS, Despite Armenians' historic presence, stewardship, and
autonomy in the region, Turkish rulers of the Ottoman Empire subjected
Armenians to severe and unjust persecution and brutality including
widespread and wholesale massacres beginning in the 1890s, most notably
the Hamidian Massacres from 1894 to 1896, and the Adana Massacre of
1909; and

WHEREAS, By 1923, these crimes against humanity not only resulted in
the killing of unprecedented numbers of innocent people, but also had
the consequence of permanently removing all traces of the Armenians and
other targeted peoples from their historic homelands of more than three
millennia, and enriching the perpetrators with the lands and other
property of the victims of these crimes, including the usurpation of
several thousand churches; and

WHEREAS, By consistently remembering and forcefully condemning the
atrocities committed against the Armenians, and honoring the survivors
as well as other victims of similar heinous conduct, we guard against
repetition of such acts of genocide and provide the American public with
a greater understanding of history; and

WHEREAS, This resolution declares that this Legislative Body
deplores the persistent, ongoing efforts by any person, in this country
or abroad, to deny the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide; and

WHEREAS, The failure of the international community to hold
responsible nations accountable for crimes against humanity results in
travesty of justice, and sets a negative precedent; and

WHEREAS, The United States is on record as having officially
acknowledged the Armenian Genocide with House Resolution 26 on October
29, 2019, unanimously confirmed by the Senate with Senate Resolution 150
on December 12, 2019, and then formally recognized by President Joe
Biden on April 24, 2021; and

WHEREAS, Even prior to the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the United States has a record of
having sought to justly and constructively address the consequences of
the Ottoman Empire's intentional destruction of the Armenian people,
including through Senate Concurrent Resolution 12 adopted on February 9,
1916, Senate Resolution 359 adopted on May 11, 1920, and President
Woodrow Wilson's November 22, 1920, decision entitled, "The Frontier
between Armenia and Turkey"; and

WHEREAS, The generous philanthropy of the American people directly
resulted in the salvation of the Armenian and Assyrian refugee's nation
from being annihilated by the genocide by saving more than one million
refugees, including more than 130,000 orphans through their humanitarian
assistance; and

WHEREAS, New York is home to a vibrant Armenian-American community
who have enriched our State through their leadership and contribution in
business, agriculture, academia, government, and the arts; and

WHEREAS, New York's more than 25,000 Armenian-Americans and their
ancestors have made numerous contributions to our State's vibrant
history and culture, including the establishment of the Syrian Quarter
in Lower Manhattan and "Little Armenia" in Murray Hill, the Armenian
General Benevolent Union, Armenia's Permanent Mission to the United
Nations, the Diocese and Prelacy of the Armenian Church, the Armenian
Center of Columbia University, the Armenian Students Association, the
Armenian Youth Federation, the literary magazine Ararat, the seminal
musical group Friends of Armenian Music, the Anthropology Museum of the
People of New York at Queens College, and countless acclaimed eateries
across the State; and

WHEREAS, The State of New York endeavors to encourage and promote a
curriculum relating to human rights and genocide in order to empower
future generations to prevent the recurrence of genocide; and

WHEREAS, April 24, 2023, will mark the 108th Anniversary since the
commencement of the Armenian Genocide; and

WHEREAS, Armenians in New York, and throughout the world, have not
been provided with justice for the crimes perpetrated against the
Armenian nation even though a century has passed since the crimes were
first committed; and

WHEREAS, Members of the Armenian community honor the memory of the
victims of this genocide and emphasize that crimes against humanity must
be condemned and never be allowed; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
memorialize Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim April 24, 2023, as
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in the State of New York; and be it
further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to The Honorable Kathy Hochul, Governor of the State of New
York.