2012
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 12-033
       
       
       BY SENATOR(S) Tochtrop, Aguilar, Bacon, Boyd, Brophy, Cadman,
       Carroll, Foster, Giron, Grantham, Harvey, Heath, Hodge, Hudak, Jahn,
       Johnston, King K., King S., Lambert, Lundberg, Mitchell, Morse,
       Neville, Newell, Nicholson, Renfroe, Roberts, Scheffel, Schwartz,
       Shaffer B., Spence, Steadman, White, Williams S.;
       also REPRESENTATIVE(S) Ryden, Acree, Balmer, Barker,
       Baumgardner, Becker, Beezley, Brown, Casso, Conti, Court, DelGrosso,
       Fields, Fischer, Gerou, Hamner, Holbert, Hullinghorst, Jones, Joshi,
       Kagan, Kefalas, Kerr A., Kerr J., Lee, Looper, Massey, McCann,
       Miklosi, Murray, Nikkel, Pabon, Peniston, Priola, Ramirez, Schafer S.,
       Scott, Singer, Solano, Sonnenberg, Soper, Stephens, Summers, Swalm,
       Swerdfeger, Szabo, Todd, Tyler, Vaad, Vigil, Williams A., Wilson,
       Young, McNulty.
       
       
          CONCERNING THE "COLORADO DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
       OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE" ON APRIL 24, 2012. 
       
       
          WHEREAS, This year marks the 97th anniversary of the first
       genocide of the 20th century, the Armenian genocide, when 1.5 million
       men, women, and children of Armenian descent were victims of a brutal
       genocide perpetrated by the Turkish Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923;
       and
       
          WHEREAS, As a result, there are fewer than 75,000 indigenous
       Armenians living within the borders of modern Turkey today; and
       
          WHEREAS, The former United States Ambassador to the Ottoman
       Empire, Henry Morgenthau, Sr., stated in 1915, "Whatever crimes the
       most perverted instincts of the human mind can devise, and whatever
       refinements of persecutions and injustice the most debased imagination
       can conceive, became the daily misfortunes of this devoted people."; and
       
          WHEREAS, The killing of the Armenian people was followed by the
       systematic destruction of churches, schools, libraries, treasures of art, and
       cultural monuments that continues to this day in an attempt to eliminate
       all traces of a noble civilization with a history of more than 3,000 years;
       and
       
          WHEREAS, Colorado newspapers widely reported the extermination
       of the Armenian people, and Colorado communities generously raised
       funds to assist the survivors, known at that time as the "Starving
       Armenians"; and
       
          WHEREAS, In 2009, the New York Times reported on a newly
       exposed official Ottoman document revealing that 972,000 Armenians
       disappeared from population records within one year, between 1915 and
       1916; and
       
          WHEREAS, Despite overwhelming evidence, modern Turkey
       continues to deny the facts of the genocide, honor the perpetrators of that
       crime against humanity as national heroes, and persecute its citizens who
       acknowledge or even allude to the Armenian genocide; and
       
          WHEREAS, Each April, Armenians throughout the world honor their
       martyrs and commemorate the Armenian genocide, a term coined by
       scholar Raphael Lemkin in 1944, referencing the Armenian extermination
       as a seminal example of genocide; and
       
          WHEREAS, We must all fight against current injustices, such as the
       ongoing first genocide of the 21st century in Darfur, which demonstrates
       how the cycle of genocide continues; and
       
          WHEREAS, Ottoman Turkey's genocide, between 1915 and 1923,
       against its ancient Christian populations, including over 2 million
       Armenians, Assyrians, Pontian Greeks, and Syriacs, has left only a
       handful of Christian faithful to care for the vast religious heritage within
       modern Turkey that, to this day, continues to represent an integral part of
       these groups' Christian faith and cultural identity; and
       
          WHEREAS, The Republic of Turkey, through neglect, theft, acts of
       violence, intolerance, and other means of denying basic human rights, has
       destroyed or stolen much of the Christian heritage within its borders, and
       has prevented the remaining Christians in its territory from freely
       practicing their faith; and
       
          WHEREAS, The U.S. Commission on International Religious
       Freedom, in its annual report released in March of 2012, identified the
       Republic of Turkey as one of the 16 most egregious and systematic
       violators of religious freedom in the world; and
       
          WHEREAS, We commend Armenians of Colorado, Inc., for their
       ongoing efforts to bring awareness and to educate the community,
       including our youth, about the Armenian genocide and the challenges
       facing minority populations in the Republic of Turkey by co-sponsoring,
       with Facing History and Ourselves, a teachers' workshop entitled "Why
       Studying the Armenian Genocide Matters Today" with genocide scholar
       Peter Balakian on March 10, 2012; and
       
          WHEREAS, We commend the growing number of Turkish citizens,
       including academics, writers, and journalists, who challenge their
       government's official account of history amid threats of prosecution and
       imprisonment under article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which forbids
       denigration of the Turkish nation and the Turkish government; now,
       therefore,
       
          Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Sixty-eighth General Assembly of
       the State of Colorado, the House of Representatives concurring herein:
       
          (1)  That this legislative body pause in its deliberations to
       commemorate the 97th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, to be
       recognized at a memorial service at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 22, 2012,
       at the Armenian Garden, located in the northeast quadrant on the State
       Capitol grounds;
       
          (2)  That we, the members of the General Assembly, hereby
       acknowledge April 24, 2012, and April 24 of each year hereafter, as
       "Colorado Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide"; and
       
          (3)  That we ask the government of Turkey to honor its obligations
       under international treaties and human rights law to return all that has
       been confiscated and to compensate for all destroyed Christian properties
       and sacred sites, allow for the reconstruction and preservation of these
       properties, and allow the Christian minorities to practice and teach their
       religion as requested by Congressional House Resolution 306,
       overwhelmingly adopted in December 2011.
       
          Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent to
       the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United States; the
       members of the Colorado Congressional Delegation; the members of the
       Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues; the Honorable John
       Hickenlooper, Governor of Colorado; the Armenian Assembly of
       America in Washington, D.C.; the Armenian National Committee of
       America in Washington, D.C.; the Armenian and Turkish Embassies in
       Washington, D.C.; the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan,
       Armenia; and Armenians of Colorado, Inc.
       
       
       
       
       
       ____________________________  ____________________________
       Brandon C. Shaffer                     Frank McNulty
       PRESIDENT OF                    SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
       THE SENATE                        OF REPRESENTATIVES
       
       
       
       
       
       
       ____________________________  ____________________________
       Cindi Markwell                        Marilyn Eddins
       SECRETARY OF                CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE
       THE SENATE                        OF REPRESENTATIVES