HR0765LRB101 20516 MST 70118 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Assyrians, an ethnic minority group, are the
3indigenous people of Mesopotamia and have lived in the Middle
4East since ancient times, including in what is today Turkey,
5Iraq, Iran, and Syria; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Assyrians, also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs,
7today live around the world, including over 600,000 in the
8United States and over 34,000 in Illinois; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Between 1914 and 1923, the Assyrian Genocide
10occurred, during which the Ottoman Empire murdered over 300,000
11Assyrian men, women, and children by methods that included mass
12executions, death marches, torture, and starvation; and
 
13    WHEREAS, During the Assyrian Genocide, also known as the
14Seyfo Genocide, the Ottoman Turks and their Kurdish allies also
15systematically raped and enslaved Assyrian women and girls,
16forced the Assyrians from their ancestral lands, and pillaged
17and destroyed their communities; and
 
18    WHEREAS, The massacre of over two million Armenians,
19Assyrians, Greeks, and other Christian and religious minority
20populations represented the final culmination of a series of
21violent persecutions dating back to the late 1800s; and
 

 

 

HR0765- 2 -LRB101 20516 MST 70118 r

1    WHEREAS, 2020 marks the 105th anniversary of the Armenian,
2Assyrian, and Greek genocides of 1915, which were part of the
3planned eradication of those indigenous communities by the
4Ottoman Turkish Empire, yet to this day, Turkey has still not
5recognized these genocides; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The denial of genocide is widely recognized as the
7final stage of genocide, maintaining impunity for the
8perpetrators of these atrocities and demonstrably paving the
9way for future genocides; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The resilience and endurance of the Assyrian
11people is commendable and praiseworthy, despite being victims
12of an ethnocide that the Islamic State continues today;
13therefore, be it
 
14    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
15HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
16we recognize the Assyrian Genocide of 1915 as a genocide and
17reprehensible crime against humanity and honor the memory of
18the hundreds of thousands of Assyrians who were murdered during
19the Assyrian Genocide of 1915; and be it further
 
20    RESOLVED, That we declare August 7, 2020 as "Assyrian
21Remembrance Day" in the State of Illinois; and be it further
 

 

 

HR0765- 3 -LRB101 20516 MST 70118 r

1    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
2presented to the Assyrian National Council of Illinois and the
3Assyrian American Association of Chicago.