BILL NUMBER: AJR 2 INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Nazarian, Achadjian, and Wilk DECEMBER 1, 2014 Relative to the Armenian Genocide. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AJR 2, as introduced, Nazarian. Armenian Genocide. This measure would, among other things, designate the month of April 2015, as "California Month of Remembrance for the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923," and would call upon the President and Congress of the United States to formally and consistently recognize and reaffirm the historical truth that the atrocities committed against the Armenian people constituted genocide, and would call upon the Republic of Turkey to acknowledge the facts of the Armenian Genocide and to work toward a just resolution. Fiscal committee: no. WHEREAS, During the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, 1.5 million men, women, and children of Armenian descent lost their lives at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in its attempt to systematically eliminate the Armenian race; 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, but not limited to, 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, The earlier massacres and subsequent genocide of the Armenians constitute one of the most atrocious violations of human rights in the history of the world; and WHEREAS, Adolph Hitler, in persuading his army commanders that the merciless persecution and killing of Jews, Poles, and other people would bring no retribution, declared, "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"; and WHEREAS, Unlike other people and governments that have admitted and denounced the abuses and crimes of predecessor regimes, and despite the overwhelming proof of genocidal intent, the Republic of Turkey has inexplicably and adamantly denied the occurrence of the crimes against humanity committed by the Ottoman and Young Turk rulers. Those denials compound the grief of the few remaining survivors of the atrocities, desecrate the memory of the victims, and cause continuing pain to the descendants of the victims; and WHEREAS, Leaders of nations with strategic, commercial, and cultural ties to the Republic of Turkey should be reminded of their duty to encourage Turkish officials to cease efforts to distort facts and deny the history of events surrounding the Armenian Genocide; and WHEREAS, The Republic of Turkey has escalated its international campaign of Armenian Genocide denial, maintained its blockade of Armenia and increased its pressure on the small but growing movement in Turkey acknowledging the Armenian Genocide and seeking justice for this systematic campaign of destruction of millions of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Pontians, Syriacs, and other Christians upon their biblical-era homelands; and WHEREAS, Those citizens of Turkey, both Armenian and non-Armenian, who continue to speak the truth about the Armenian Genocide, such as human rights activist and journalist Hrant Dink, continue to be silenced by violent means; and WHEREAS, The accelerated level and scope of denial and revisionism, coupled with the passage of time and the fact that very few survivors remain who can serve as reminders of the indescribable brutality and the lives that were tormented, compel a sense of urgency in efforts to solidify recognition of historical truth; and WHEREAS, The United States is on record as having officially recognized the Armenian Genocide in the United States government's May 28, 1951, written statement to the International Court of Justice regarding the Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, through President Ronald Reagan' s April 22, 1981, Proclamation No. 4838, and by Congressional legislation including United States House of Representatives Joint Resolution 148 adopted on April 9, 1975, and United States House of Representatives Joint Resolution 247 adopted on September 12 , 1984; 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 United States Senate Concurrent Resolution 12 adopted on February 9, 1916, United States 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, 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, There is continued concern about the welfare of Christians in the Republic of Turkey, their right to worship and practice their faith freely, and the legal status and condition of churches and other places of worship, monasteries, schools, hospitals, monuments, relics, holy sites, and other religious properties in the Republic of Turkey; and WHEREAS, California is home to the largest Armenian-American population in the United States, and Armenians living in California have enriched our state through their leadership and contribution in business, agriculture, academia, government, and the arts; and WHEREAS, The State of California has been at the forefront of encouraging and promoting a curriculum relating to human rights and genocide in order to empower future generations to prevent the recurrence of genocide; and WHEREAS, On April 24, 2014, President Obama stated, "A full, frank, and just acknowledgment of the facts is in all of our interests. Peoples and nations grow stronger, and build a foundation for a more just and tolerant future, by acknowledging and reckoning with painful elements of the past"; and WHEREAS, President Obama entered office having stated his "firmly held conviction that the Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence" and affirmed his record of "calling for Turkey's acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide"; and WHEREAS, The United States' national interests in establishing equitable, constructive, stable, and durable relations between Armenians and Turks cannot be meaningfully advanced by circumventing or otherwise seeking to avoid the central political, legal, security, and moral issue between these two nations: Turkey's denial of truth and justice for the Armenian Genocide; and WHEREAS, The 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide signifies a global demand for justice by Armenians worldwide and all people of good will and this centennial marks one of the 20th century's greatest crimes against humanity, when in 1915, the Turkish Government began a premeditated and systematic campaign to uproot the Armenian population from its ancestral homeland and slaughter 1.5 million defenseless men, women, and children; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature hereby designates the month of April 2015, as "California Month of Remembrance for the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923"; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature commends its conscientious educators who teach about human rights and genocide; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature respectfully calls upon the President and Congress of the United States to act likewise and to formally and consistently recognize and reaffirm the historical truth that the atrocities committed against the Armenian people constituted genocide; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature calls on the President of the United States to work toward equitable, constructive, stable, and durable Armenian-Turkish relations based upon the Republic of Turkey' s full acknowledgment of the facts and ongoing consequences of the Armenian Genocide, and a fair, just, and comprehensive international resolution of this crime against humanity; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature declares that it deplores the persistent, ongoing efforts by any person, in this country or abroad, to deny the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature calls upon the Republic of Turkey to acknowledge the facts of the Armenian Genocide and to work toward a just resolution; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, the Governor, and the Turkish Ambassador to the United States.