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Vermont Legislature Unanimously Adopts Armenian Genocide Centennial

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  • Vermont Legislature Unanimously Adopts Armenian Genocide Centennial

    VERMONT LEGISLATURE UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL RESOLUTION

    12:04, 01 Apr 2015
    Siranush Ghazanchyan

    The Vermont legislature strengthened the standing of the Green Mountain
    State as a leader in the genocide prevention movement by unanimously
    adopting a concurrent resolution (H.C.R. 86) commemorating the Armenian
    Genocide Centennial and hosting a day-long series of events honoring
    the victims of this crime against humanity, reported the Armenian
    National Committee of America - Eastern Region (ANCA-ER).

    The legislation was spearheaded on the House side by Representative
    Joan G. Lenes, who is a descendant of an Assyrian Genocide survivor,
    and Representative Adam Greshin. Lead Senate supporters of the
    resolution included Senators Dick Sears, Philip Baruth and Diane
    Snelling with 14 of 30 Senators cosponsoring the measure.

    "It was a wonderful day of people sharing a common past - not
    forgetting that, yet still learning and looking forward so that we are
    a better people," noted Rep. Lenes following passage of the resolution.

    Prior to its reading in the General Assembly, Vermont's own Lokum
    Band - Jeff Davis, Peter Bingham, and Charlie Jones - played several
    Armenian musical pieces as part of the devotional exercises, garnering
    a standing ovation from legislators. Later, Rep. Lenes introduced
    the Armenian community members in attendance and invited one and all
    to a noon presentation about the Armenian Genocide by authors Chris
    Bohjalian and Dana Walrath.

    "I was so proud to be a Vermonter today -- and I was so proud of the
    Vermont legislature," said Bohjalian, whose internationally acclaimed
    novel on the Armenian Genocide - "The Sandcastle Girls" - was a
    New York Times best seller. "By recognizing the Armenian Genocide,
    legislators gave voice to those voices that were forever stilled
    in Der-el-Zor and Ras-el-Ain and the Dudan Crevasse. Today Vermont
    helped spread the truth of what occurred a century ago on the Anatolian
    plains and the Syrian desert, and helped quiet the voice of denial."

    "Today Vermont legislators chose social justice over political
    exigency," said Walrath, who recently published "Like Water on Stone,"
    a verse novel about the genocide that is based on her grandmother's
    history. "Shame, pride, and oil are not good enough reasons to deny
    the Armenian genocide. Their detailed resolution honors those who
    suffered and those who have worked tirelessly to erase genocide from
    this earth. This resolution can serve as a model for other states. I
    am proud to be a citizen of Vermont, a small state with a big heart."

    Following the presentation, ANC Vermont activist Nareg Aghjayan joined
    with local community leaders in hosting a reception with Armenian
    delicacies for the over 100 legislators and supporters in attendance
    at the commemoration.

    "The few yet mighty members of the Armenian American community in the
    Green Mountain State, collectively thank the Vermont General Assembly
    in unanimously passing Resolution H.C.R. 86 commemorating the Armenian
    Genocide Centennial," said Aghjayan. "On behalf of ANC-Vermont and
    its entire grassroots family, we warmly welcome the continued support
    of Vermonters on this crucial human rights issue."

    ANCA Eastern Region Chairman Steve Mesrobian concurred. "We applaud
    the leadership of Representatives Lenes and Greshin and Senators Sears
    Baruth and Snelling in ensuring the unanimous passage of this historic
    resolution by the Vermont Legislature. We would particularly like
    to thank Chris Bohjalian and Dana Walrath for educating generations
    about the Armenian Genocide through their presentations today and
    their literary works read across the U.S. and the world. The people of
    Vermont have spoken on this important topic through their Legislative
    body and we call on the United States government to follow suit in
    recognizing the Armenian Genocide, particularly at this important
    juncture of our nation's history," explained Mesrobian.

    The State of Vermont first recognized the Armenian Genocide when
    Governor James Douglas proclaimed April 24, 2004, as "Armenian
    Martyrs Day" in Vermont. Forty-three U.S. states have recognized the
    Armenian Genocide, with additional states considering legislation in
    the upcoming months.

    The full text of H.C.R. 86 follows:

    Montpelier, Vermont

    Concurrent House Resolution

    H.C.R. 86

    House concurrent resolution commemorating the 100th anniversary of
    the start of the Armenian Genocide

    Offered by: Representatives Lenes of Shelburne and Greshin of Warren

    Offered by: Senators Sears, Baruth, Balint, Benning, Campion,
    Collamore, Cummings, Flory, McCormack, Mullin, Pollina, Snelling,
    White, and Zuckerman

    Whereas, from 1915 to 1923, the government of the Ottoman Empire
    persecuted and executed systematically an estimated 1.5 million
    Armenians, and

    Whereas, this brutal mistreatment became known as the Armenian
    Genocide and, by 1923, it had resulted in the elimination of the
    Armenian population in Asia Minor and historic West Armenia, and

    Whereas, the Armenian Genocide began on the night of April 24, 1915,
    when the Turkish government arrested more than 200 Armenian community
    leaders in Constantinople, the Ottoman Empire's capital city, and

    Whereas, most of the prominent public figures of the Armenian community
    were summarily executed, and

    Whereas, large numbers of Armenian civilians were forcibly deported
    to the Syrian desert, and many died either en route, at the hands of
    government-aligned gangs, or from dehydration and starvation in the
    desert, and

    Whereas, in May 1915, the Allied Powers of France, Great Britain,
    and Russia issued a joint statement charging the government
    in Constantinople with committing crimes "against humanity and
    civilization," the first time a government-to-government charge of
    this type was issued, and

    Whereas, it is estimated that, by 1918, the Ottoman Empire's brutal
    treatment of Armenians had resulted in the deaths of one million
    persons and made hundreds of thousands of others homeless and stateless
    refugees, and

    Whereas, Raphael Lemkin, the initial drafter of the United Nations
    Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
    and the originator of the term "genocide," recognized the Armenian
    Genocide as the type of crime the United Nations should prevent
    through the establishment of international standards, and

    Whereas, historians cite the Armenian Genocide as a forerunner of
    later human massacres, including the Holocaust, the Cambodian Killing
    Fields, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur, and

    Whereas, on April 24, 2004, Governor James Douglas issued a
    proclamation recognizing the Armenian Genocide on the 89th anniversary
    of its initiation, now therefore be it

    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:

    That the General Assembly commemorates the 100th anniversary of the
    start of the Armenian Genocide, and be it further

    Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of
    this resolution to the Armenian National Committee of Vermont.

    http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/04/01/vermont-legislature-unanimously-adopts-armenian-genocide-centennial-resolution/


    From: Baghdasarian
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