HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 04-15-2003-5dORANGE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
Meeting Date: April 15, 2003
Action Agen a
Item No, -
SUBJECT: Armenian Martyrs Day -April 24, 2003
DEPARTMENT: Human Rights and Relations PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No
ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT:
Proclamation Annette M. Moore, ext 2254
TELEPHONE NUMBERS:
Hillsborough 732-8181
Chapel Hill 968-4501
Durham 688-7331
Mebane 336-227-2031
PURPOSE: To recognize and remember Armenian Martyrs Day and the millions who perished
in similar genocides throughout the 20th Century.
BACKGROUND: The first genocide of the 20th Century occurred when two million Armenians
living in Turkey were, through forced deportation and massacres, eliminated from their
homeland. The government order to exterminate the Armenian people on April 24, 1915 led to
more than 1.5 million Armenians being killed (3/4 of the population and spawned other
governmental efforts to exterminate populations throughout the 20 Century including Nazi
Germany under Adolph Hitler. On August 22, 1939, Hitler gave the following instructions to his
Army commanders:
"Thus for the time being I have sent to the East my `Death's Head Units' with the orders to
kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of Polish race or language. Only in
such a way will we win the vital space that we need. Who still talks nowadays about the
Armenians?"
In recognition and remembrance of those who perished between 1915 and 1923 in the
genocide, Armenians have traditionally designated April 24th as ARMENIAN MARTYRS DAY.
Throughout the 20th Century, countries have perpetrated genocide or race killing in the name of
hate. The Human Relations Commission calls upon the Orange County Board of County
Commissioners to proclaim April 24th as Armenian Martyrs Day in remembrance of all persons
who perished in the 20th Century and throughout history in the name of racial, religious and
ethnic cleansing so that we do not forget the inevitable outcome of our daily intolerances.
GENOCIDE IN THE 20T" CENTURY
- Stalin's Forced famine: 1932 -1933 - 7,000,000 Ukrainian deaths
- Rape of Nanking: 1937 - 1938 - 300,000 Chinese deaths and more than 20,000 rapes
- Nazi Holocaust: 1938 - 1945 - 6,000,000 Jewish deaths
- Pol Pot Cambodia: 1975-1979 -Cambodian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Cham Muslims and
other deaths
- Rwanda: 1994 - 800,000 Tutsis deaths
- Bosnia-Herzegovina: 1992-1995 - 200,000 Muslim deaths
FINANCIAL IMPACT: None
RECOMMENDATION: The Manager recommends that the Board adopt the proposed
proclamation and authorize the Chair to sign it.
THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
A PROCLAMATION
for
ARMENIAN MARTYRS DAY
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 homelands; and
WHEREAS, Armenians assert that the government of modern-day Turkey refuses to
recognize the facts of genocide; and
WHEREAS, the denial of the Armenian genocide by the present day Turkish government
serves to taint the history and disavows Armenians of the right to their homelands 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 traditionally designated Apri124t'' as ARMENIAN MARTYRS
DAY, in recognition and remembrance of those who died during the Armenian genocide; and
WHEREAS, Orange County finds it equally important to remember the atrocities committed
against others in the name or religious, racial and ethnic cleansing so that we do not forget the
inevitable outcome of our daily intolerances; and
WHEREAS, it is important to remember history so that mistakes of the past are not repeated
for future generations;
NOW, THEREFORE, do we, the Commissioners of Orange County, proclaim Apri124,
2003 as Armenian Martyrs Day and commend this observance to all Orange County citizens.
THIS THE 15TH DAY OF APRIL, 2003.
Margaret Brown, Chair
Orange County Board of Commissioners