Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day Recognition Resolution of 2025

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A CEREMONIAL RESOLUTION

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IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

May 6, 2025

To recognize April 24, 2025, as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day and reflect on the 110th
anniversary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide and on the importance of educating District
residents on the Armenian Genocide.

WHEREAS, on April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Empire began a premeditated campaign of
brutal atrocities, including pogroms, deportations, forced death marches across Anatolia into the
Syrian Desert, starvation, crucifixions, kidnapping, massacres en masse, and genocide against its
Christian Armenian minority population, resulting in the death of an estimated one and one half
million Armenians and over one million Greeks, Assyrians, Syriacs and others;

WHEREAS, on July 16, 1915, the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry
Morgenthau, wrote to the U.S. Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, and reported that “Deportation
of and excesses against peaceful Armenians is increasing and from harrowing reports of eye
witnesses it appears that a campaign of race extermination is in progress”;

WHEREAS, Near East Relief was the first Congressionally sanctioned American
philanthropic effort created exclusively to rescue the Armenian Nation and other Christian
minorities from annihilation after Ambassador Morgenthau pled for assistance upon personally
witnessing the systematic massacre of Armenians;

WHEREAS, James Cannon, Jr., Frank Morrison, and Ray Lyman Wilbur of the District of
Columbia helped lead the humanitarian efforts of Near East Relief by serving on its Board of
Trustees from 1915 from 1930;

WHEREAS, Near East Relief’s efforts resulted in delivering $117 million of assistance
between 1915 and 1930, including the delivery of food, clothing, and materials for shelter, setting
up refugee camps, clinics, hospitals, and orphanages;

WHEREAS, the Near East Relief Committee of the District of Columbia was the third -
largest committee of any state in the United States from 1915 through 1930;

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WHEREAS, Near East Relief evolved into the Near East Foundation in 1930, and it
continues to provide humanitarian aid to people throughout the Middle East and Asia;

WHEREAS, on May 28, 1951, the United States Government affirmed the Armenian
Genocide in a statement to the International Criminal Court, which stated that “the Roman
persecution of the Christians, the Turkish massacres of Armenians, the extermination of millions
of Jews and Poles by the Nazis are outstanding examples of the crime of genocide”;

WHEREAS, the U.S. House of Representatives officially acknowledged the World War I
mass killings of Armenians as the Armenian Genocide through adopted legislation in 1975 and
1984;

WHEREAS, on April 22, 1981, President Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation which
stated that “like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians
which followed it – and like too many other such persecutions of too many other pe oples – the
lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten”;

WHEREAS, since the 1890s, Armenian Americans and organizations contribute richly to
the District of Columbia’s social mosaic and add to our community’s economic, political, and
educational development;

WHEREAS, in 2019, the District of Columbia recognized the Armenian Genocide of 1915-
1923, affirming recognition of persecuted Armenians;

WHEREAS, the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923 has been recognized by the U.S. House
of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and the President of the United States, as well as more than
30 countries, including Canada, France, Switzerland, Germany, the Vatican, and Argentina;

WHEREAS, by recognizing, remembering, and educating others about the Armenian
Genocide, we help protect historic memory, prevent similar atrocities from happening again, and
remain vigilant against hatred, persecution, and tyranny.

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the “Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day Recognition Resolution
of 2025”.

Sec. 2. The Council of the District of Columbia recognizes Armenian Genocide
Remembrance Day and reflects on the 110th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide and on
the importance of educating District residents about the Armenian Genocide.

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Sec. 3. The Council shall transmit a copy of this resolution, upon its adoption, to the Mayor,
the State Superintendent of Education, the Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools,
and the President and each member of the State Board of Education.

Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.