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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
RECOGNIZING AUGUST 7, 2023 AS ASSYRIAN REMEMBRANCE DAY
WHEREAS, Assyrians, an ethnic minority group, are the indigenous people of Mesopotamia and have lived in the Middle East since ancient time, including in what is today Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria; and
WHEREAS, between 1914 and 1923, the Assyrian Genocide occurred; during this time, the Ottoman Empire murdered over 300,000 Assyrian men, women, and children by methods that included mass executions, death marches, torture, and starvation; and
WHEREAS, during the Assyrian Genocide, also known as the Seyfo Genocide, the Ottoman Turks and their Kurdish allies also systematically raped and enslaved Assyrian women and girls, forced the Assyrians from their ancestral lands, and pillaged and destroyed their communities; and
WHEREAS, the killing of over two million Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, Christians, and other religious minority populations represented the culmination of a series of violent persecutions dating back to the late 1800's; and
WHEREAS, the year 2023 marks the 108th anniversary of the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek genocides of 1915; these genocides were part of the planned eradication of those indigenous communities by the Ottoman Turkish Empire; yet, to this day, Turkey has still not recognized these genocides; and
WHEREAS, August 7, 1933 is recognized by the International Association of Genocide Scholars as the date on which as many as 6,000 Assyrians were killed at the orders of the Iraqi government in an event known as the Simele Massacre; this massacre continued the legacy of persecution exemplified by the 1915 Assyrian Genocide; and
WHEREAS, August 7th, globally observed by Assyrian community as Assyrian Remembrance Day, is in remembrance of the Simele Massacre and of all persecution the Assyrian people have faced as a result of their distinct and ancient ethnic and religious identity; and
WHEREAS, the persecution against Assyrians continues until this day ...
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