BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AJR 2
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 16, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON RULES
Gordon, Chair
AJR
2 (Nazarian) - As Amended April 14, 2015
SUBJECT: Armenian Genocide.
SUMMARY: Would, among other things, designate the year of 2015
as "State of California Year of Commemoration of the Centennial
Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915?1923," designate
April 24, 2015, as "State of California Day of Commemoration of
the Centennial Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of
1915?1923," and would call upon the President of the United
States and the United States Congress to formally and
consistently reaffirm the historical truth that the atrocities
committed against the Armenian people constituted genocide.
Specifically, this resolution makes the following legislative
findings:
1) Armenians have resided in Asia Minor and the Caucasus for
approximately four millennia, and have a long and rich history
in the region, including the establishment of many kingdoms,
and despite Armenians' historic presence, stewardship, and
autonomy in the region, Turkish rulers of the Ottoman Empire
and the Republic of Turkey subjected Armenians to severe and
unjust persecution and brutality, including wholesale
massacres beginning in the 1890s.
2)The Armenian nation was subjected to a systematic and
premeditated genocide officially beginning on April 24, 1915,
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at the hands of the Young Turk Government of the Ottoman
Empire from 1915-1919 and continued at the hands of the
Kemalist Movement of Turkey from 1920-1923 whereby over 1.5
million Armenian men, women, and children were slaughtered or
marched to their deaths in an effort to annihilate the
Armenian nation in the first genocide of modern times, while
thousands of surviving Armenian women and children were
forcibly converted and Islamized, and hundreds of thousands
more were subjected to ethnic cleansing during the period of
the modern Republic of Turkey from 1924-1937.
3)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,
many of whom have family members who experienced firsthand the
horror and evil of the Armenian Genocide and its ongoing
denial.
4)The Armenian people, in this state and elsewhere, remain
resolved and their spirit continues to thrive a century after
their near annihilation.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Armenian National Committee of America - Western Region
American Hellenic Council
AJR 2
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Opposition
Turkish Consulate General - Los Angeles
Turkish Peace and Justice Committee California
Analysis Prepared by:Mukhtar Ali / RLS. / (916) 319-2800