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<br />PROCLAMATION <br />for <br />ARMENIAN MARTYRS DAY <br />WHEREAS, between 1915-1923, the extermination of more than one and one-half <br />million Armenians and the deportation of countless other Armenians took <br />place by the Ottoman Turks; and <br />WHEREAS, during this atrocity, Armenians were forced to witness the slaughter of <br />their relatives and the loss of their ancestral homelands; and <br />WHEREAS, Armenians assert that the government of modern-day Turkey refuses <br />to recognize the facts. of the genocide; and <br />WHEREAS, the denial of the Armenian genocide by the present-day Turkish <br />government serves to taint history and disavows Armenians of the <br />right to their homeland and heritage; and <br />WHEREAS, ancestral Armenian lands taken by the Ottoman Turks have not been <br />returned to the Armenian people, nor have the Armenians received <br />compensation for their losses; and <br />WHEREAS, Armenians have traditionally designated Apri124th as ARMENIAN <br />MARTYRS DAY, in recognition and remembrance of those who died <br />during the Armenian genocide; and <br />WHEREAS, it is important to remember history so that mistakes of the past are <br />not repeated in future generations; <br />NOW, THEREFORE, do we, the Commissioners of Orange County, proclaim April 24, <br />1999 as ARMENIAN MARTYRS DAY and commend this observance to all Orange <br />County citizens. <br />This the 6th day of April, 1999. <br />l~C.,C.~-mac. <br />Alice M. Gordon, Chair <br />Board of Commissioners <br />