HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 04-16-1997 - 5c - Added Item PROCLAMATION
FOR
ARMENIAN MARTYRS DAY
APRIL 24th , 1997
WHEREAS, between 1915-1923, the extermination of more than one and one-half million
Armenians and the deportation of countless other Armenians took place by the Ottoman Turks;
and
WHEREAS, during this atrocity, Armenians were forced to witness the slaughter of their
relatives and the loss of their ancestral homeland; and
WHEREAS, Armenians assert that the government of modem day Turkey refuses to recognize
the facts of the genocide; and
WHEREAS, the denial of the Armenian genocide by the present day Turkish government
serves to taint history and disavows Armenians of the right to their homeland and heritage; and
WHEREAS, Ancestral Armenian lands taken by the Ottoman Turks have not been returned to
the Armenian people, nor have the Armenians received compensation for their losses; and
WHEREAS, Armenians have traditionally designated April 24th as ARMENIAN MARTYRS
DAY, in recognition and remembrance of those who died during the Armenian genocide; and
WHEREAS, the year 1997 marks the 82nd Anniversary of the Tragedy of the Armenian
genocide; and
WHEREAS, it is important to remember history so that mistakes of the past are not repeated in
future generations.
NOW, THEREFORE, the Orange County Board of Commissioners proclaims April 24, 1997 as
ARMENIAN MARTYRS DAY
in Orange County, North Carolina this the 16th Day of April, 1997.
William L. Crowther, Chair
Board of Commissioners