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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 modem-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 April 24th 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 /> Alice M. Gordon, Chair <br /> Board of Commissioners <br />