Full Text of SJR0020 103rd General Assembly
SJ0020 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | SJ0020 | | LRB103 25965 ECR 52317 r |
|
| 1 | | SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Assyrians, an ethnic minority group, are the | 3 | | indigenous people of Mesopotamia and have lived in the Middle | 4 | | East since ancient times, including in what is today Turkey, | 5 | | Iraq, Iran, and Syria; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Today, Assyrians, also known as Chaldeans and | 7 | | Syriacs, live around the world, including over 600,000 who | 8 | | live in the United States and over 80,000 who live in Illinois; | 9 | | and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, Between 1914 and 1923, the Assyrian Genocide | 11 | | occurred; during this time, the Ottoman Empire murdered over | 12 | | 300,000 Assyrian men, women, and children by methods that | 13 | | included mass executions, death marches, torture, and | 14 | | starvation; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, During the Assyrian Genocide, also known as the | 16 | | Seyfo Genocide, the Ottoman Turks and their Kurdish allies | 17 | | also systematically raped and enslaved Assyrian women and | 18 | | girls, forced the Assyrians from their ancestral lands, and | 19 | | pillaged and destroyed their communities; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, The killings of over two million Armenians, | 21 | | Assyrians, Greeks, Christians, and other religious minority |
| | | SJ0020 | - 2 - | LRB103 25965 ECR 52317 r |
|
| 1 | | populations represented the culmination of a series of violent | 2 | | persecutions dating back to the late 1800s; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, The year 2023 marks the 108th anniversary of the | 4 | | Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek genocides of 1915; these | 5 | | genocides were part of the planned eradication of those | 6 | | indigenous communities by the Ottoman Turkish Empire; yet, to | 7 | | this day, Turkey has still not recognized these genocides; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, August 7, 1933 is recognized by the International | 9 | | Association of Genocide Scholars as the date on which as many | 10 | | as 6,000 Assyrians were killed at the orders of the Iraqi | 11 | | government in an event known as the Simele Massacre; this | 12 | | massacre continued the legacy of persecution exemplified by | 13 | | the 1915 Assyrian Genocide; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, August 7th, globally observed by the Assyrian | 15 | | community as Assyrian Remembrance Day, is in remembrance of | 16 | | the Simele Massacre and of all persecution the Assyrian people | 17 | | have faced as a result of their distinct and ancient ethnic and | 18 | | religious identity; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, The persecution against Assyrians continues until | 20 | | this day in their ancestral homeland, where they are | 21 | | continually targeted for persecution by state and non-state | 22 | | actors such as the Republic of Turkey, the Republic of Iraq, |
| | | SJ0020 | - 3 - | LRB103 25965 ECR 52317 r |
|
| 1 | | the Kurdistan Regional Government, and the so called Islamic | 2 | | State of Iraq and the Levant or ISIL; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, ISIL has persistently destroyed culturally and | 4 | | historically significant locations and items, including UNESCO | 5 | | world heritage sites such as the ancient Assyrian city of | 6 | | Nimrud; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, The United States House of Representatives and | 8 | | United States Senate concurrently resolved that "the | 9 | | atrocities perpetrated by ISIL against Christians, Yezidis, | 10 | | and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria | 11 | | constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide"; | 12 | | and | 13 | | WHEREAS, The denial of genocide is widely recognized as | 14 | | the final stage of genocide; this denial maintains impunity | 15 | | for the perpetrators of these atrocities and demonstrably | 16 | | paves the way for future genocides; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, The resilience and endurance of the Assyrian | 18 | | people, despite being victims of a genocide that the Islamic | 19 | | State continues to perpetuate to this day, is commendable and | 20 | | praiseworthy; therefore, be it
| 21 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL |
| | | SJ0020 | - 4 - | LRB103 25965 ECR 52317 r |
|
| 1 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF | 2 | | REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that RESOLVED, That we | 3 | | recognize the Assyrian Genocide of 1915 as a genocide and as a | 4 | | reprehensible crime against humanity, and we honor the memory | 5 | | of the hundreds of thousands of Assyrians who were murdered; | 6 | | and be it further
| 7 | | RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois recognizes the Simele | 8 | | Massacre of 1933 as a genocide and reprehensible crime against | 9 | | humanity and honors the memory of the thousands of Assyrians | 10 | | who were murdered during the Simele Massacre of 1933; and be it | 11 | | further
| 12 | | RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois deplores the | 13 | | persistent, ongoing efforts by any person, in this country or | 14 | | abroad, to deny the historical fact of the Assyrian Genocide | 15 | | or any other genocide; and be it further
| 16 | | RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois respectfully calls | 17 | | upon the President of the United States to formally and | 18 | | consistently reaffirm the historical truth that the atrocities | 19 | | committed against the Assyrian, Armenian, and Greek | 20 | | populations of the Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1923 | 21 | | constituted genocide; and be it further
| 22 | | RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois encourages education |
| | | SJ0020 | - 5 - | LRB103 25965 ECR 52317 r |
|
| 1 | | and public understanding of the facts of the Assyrian | 2 | | Genocide, including the United States' role in humanitarian | 3 | | relief effort and the relevance of the Assyrian Genocide to | 4 | | modern day crimes against humanity; and be it further
| 5 | | RESOLVED, That we declare August 7, 2023 as Assyrian | 6 | | Remembrance Day in the State of Illinois.
|
|