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A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner <br />Gordon to approve and authorize the Chair to sign the proclamation as stated below: <br />A 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 place by the <br />Ottoman Turks; and <br />WHEREAS, during this atrocity, Armenians were forced to witness the slaughter of their <br />relatives and the loss of their ancestral homelands; and <br />WHEREAS, Armenians assert that the government of modern-day Turkey refuses to <br />recognize the facts of genocide; and <br />WHEREAS, the denial of the Armenian genocide by the present day Turkish <br />government serves to taint the history and disavows Armenians of the right to their <br />homelands 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 compensation for <br />their losses; and <br />WHEREAS, Armenians traditionally designated April 24t" as ARMENIAN MARTYRS <br />DAY, in recognition and remembrance of those who died during the Armenian genocide; <br />and <br />WHEREAS, Orange County finds it equally important to remember the atrocities <br />committed against others in the name or religious, racial and ethnic cleansing so that we <br />do not forget the inevitable outcome of our daily intolerances; and <br />WHEREAS, it is important to remember history so that mistakes of the past are not <br />repeated for future generations; <br />NOW, THEREFORE, do we, the Commissioners of Orange County, proclaim April 24, <br />2003 as Armenian Martyrs Day and commend this observance to all Orange County <br />citizens. <br />THIS THE 15T" DAY OF APRIL. 2003. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />