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PROCLAMATION <br /> FOR <br /> ARMENIAN MARTYRS DAY <br /> APRIL 24th , 1997 <br /> WHEREAS, between 1915-1923, the extermination of more than one and one-half million <br /> Armenians and the deportation of countless other Armenians took place by the Ottoman Turks; <br /> and <br /> WHEREAS, during this atrocity, Armenians were forced to witness the slaughter of their <br /> relatives and the loss of their ancestral homeland; and <br /> WHEREAS, Armenians assert that the government of modem day Turkey refuses to recognize <br /> the facts of the genocide; and <br /> WHEREAS, the denial of the Armenian genocide by the present day Turkish government <br /> serves to taint history and disavows Armenians of the right to their homeland and heritage; and <br /> WHEREAS, Ancestral Armenian lands taken by the Ottoman Turks have not been returned to <br /> the Armenian people, nor have the Armenians received compensation for their losses; and <br /> WHEREAS, Armenians have traditionally designated April 24th as ARMENIAN MARTYRS <br /> DAY, in recognition and remembrance of those who died during the Armenian genocide; and <br /> WHEREAS, the year 1997 marks the 82nd Anniversary of the Tragedy of the Armenian <br /> genocide; and <br /> WHEREAS, it is important to remember history so that mistakes of the past are not repeated in <br /> future generations. <br /> NOW, THEREFORE, the Orange County Board of Commissioners proclaims April 24, 1997 as <br /> ARMENIAN MARTYRS DAY <br /> in Orange County, North Carolina this the 16th Day of April, 1997. <br /> William L. Crowther, Chair <br /> Board of Commissioners <br />