Orange County NC Website
PROCLAMATION <br /> for <br /> ARMENIAN MARTYRS DAY <br /> WHEREAS, between 1915-1923, the extermination of more than one and one- <br /> half million Armenians and the deportation of countless other <br /> Armenians took place by the Ottoman Turks; and <br /> WHEREAS, during this atrocity, Armenians were forced to witness the slaughter <br /> of their relatives and the loss of their ancestral homelands; and <br /> WHEREAS, Armenians assert that the government of modern-day Turkey <br /> refuses 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 <br /> been returned to the Armenian people, nor have the Armenians <br /> received 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 <br /> April 24, 2000 as ARMENIAN MARTYRS DAY and commend this <br /> observance to all Orange County citizens. <br /> This the 171h day of April, 2000. <br /> Moses Carey, Jr., Chair <br /> Board of Commissione <br />