BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AJR 2|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AJR 2
Author: Nazarian (D), et al.
Amended: 4/14/15 in Assembly
Vote: 21
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: Read and adopted, 4/20/15
SUBJECT: Armenian Genocide
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This resolution designates the year of 2015 as "State
of California Year of Commemoration of the Centennial
Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915?1923," designates
April 24, 2015, as "State of California Day of Commemoration of
the Centennial Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of
1915?1923," and calls upon the Congress and the President of the
United States to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
ANALYSIS: 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.
AJR 2
Page 2
2)The Armenian nation was subjected to a systematic and
premeditated genocide officially beginning on April 24, 1915,
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.
This resolution designates the year of 2015 as "State of
California Year of Commemoration of the Centennial Anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide of 1915?1923," designates April 24,
2015, as "State of California Day of Commemoration of the
Centennial Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915?1923,"
and calls upon the Congress and the President of the United
States to formally and consistently reaffirm the historical
truth that the atrocities committed against the Armenian people
constituted genocide and to work toward equitable, constructive,
stable, and durable Armenian-Turkish relations.
Related/Prior Legislation
AJR 2
Page 3
AJR 1 (Gatto, 2015) designates, among other things, the week of
April 18-24, 2015, as "California Week of Remembrance for the
Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923." The resolution is pending in
the Assembly.
AB 1915 (Nazarian, Chapter 414, Statutes of 2014) enacted the
Armenian Genocide Education Act, and provided that the
instruction in human rights issues may also include particular
attention to the study of the inhumanity of the Armenian
Genocide.
AJR 2 (Gatto, Resolution Chapter 21, Statutes of 2013)
designated the week of April 18-24, 2013, as "California Week of
Remembrance for the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923."
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified4/17/15)
American Hellenic Council
Armenian National Committee of America - Western Region
OPPOSITION: (Verified4/17/15)
Turkish Consulate General - Los Angeles
Turkish Peace and Justice Committee California
AJR 2
Page 4
Prepared by:Melissa Ward / SFA / (916) 651-1520
4/20/15 12:55:53
**** END ****