Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

State of Arkansas Issues Proclamation Recognizing The Armenian Genocide
by Armenian National Committee of America
Posted: Tuesday, April 03, 2001 03:28 am CST

PRESS RELEASE

Eastern Region
80 Bigelow Avenue
Watertown, MA 02452
Tel: 617-923-1918
Fax: 617-926-5525
https://www.anca.org/

March 30, 2001
Contact: Leo Stepanian
501-452-4122

Little Rock, AR -- Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee issued a Proclamation this week recognizing April 24, 2001 as a Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.

The Arkansas proclamation, issued on March 27, 2001, recognizes, `the death of at least 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks and the forced deportation of countless others.' The Proclamation further recognizes that `the Armenian people have not received reparations for their losses' and that the present Turkish government engages in a campaign of `denial of the Armenian Genocide.'

`We are proud to be citizens of this great state as it honors the victims of the first Genocide of this century,' stated Leo Stepanian, of the Armenian National Committee of Arkansas. `I only wish that my relatives, many of whom perished during the atrocities of the Armenian Genocide, were alive today. On behalf of the Stepanian, Derantz, Haroutunian, Namsaian, Pashalian, and Molkhsotzs families and the Armenian American community of Arkansas, I thank Governor Huckabee for properly commemorating the Armenian Genocide and denouncing the continued campaign of denial by the present Turkish government.'

The full text of the Proclamation is below.

With over 45 chapters across the country, the Armenian National Committee of American is the largest Armenian-American grassroots political organization. The ANCA actively advances a broad range of issues of concern to the Armenian-American community.

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State of Arkansas

Executive Department

Proclamation

To all Whom these Presents Come - Greetings:

WHEREAS, the death of at least 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks and the forced deportation of countless others, is remembered on April 24th as Armenian Martyrs Day; and

WHEREAS, eighty-six years ago, Armenians were forced to witness the slaughter of their relatives and the loss of their ancestral homeland; and

WHEREAS, the denial of the Armenian Genocide by the present-day Turkish Government continues to antagonize the Armenian people concerning their own rightful place in history; and

WHEREAS, the Armenian people have not received reparations for their losses; and

WHEREAS, Armenians have valiantly pursued the improvement and self-determination of their homelands; and

WHEREAS, notwithstanding such atrocities in the past people of Armenian descent have been strong, productive, contributing citizens in the many communities in which they reside in the State of Arkansas; and

WHEREAS, on April 24, 2001, Armenian families from across Arkansas will gather to honor the 1.5 million Armenians who were massacred under the Ottoman Turkish Government between 1915 and 1923;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Mike Huckabee, acting under the authority vested in me as Governor of the State of Arkansas, do hereby proclaim April 24, 2001, as

A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

in the State of Arkansas.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Arkansas to be affixed this 27th day of March, in the year of our Lord 2001.

[signed]
Mike Huckabee, Governor

[signed]

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