California Recognizes Two Assyrian Genocides
AINA – 13/9/19
Sacramento, California (AINA) — The State of California recognized the Assyrian Genocide of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire and the Simmele massacre of 1933 in Iraq in a binding resolution passed on September 9, 2019. The resolution was backed by both Democratic and Republican assembly members and it passed unanimously.
The resolution states:
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the Assyrian Genocide of 1915, also known as the Seyfo Genocide, as well as the Simmele massacre, are recognized by the Assembly of the State of California as crimes against humanity, and that the Assembly of the State of California hereby recognizes August 7, 2019, as Assyrian Remembrance Day; and be it furtherResolved, That the chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
Related: The Assyrian Genocide
Related: The 1933 Massacre of Assyrians in Simmele, Iraq
The Ottoman Genocide against Armenians also targeted Assyrians and Greeks. 750,000 Assyrians (75%) and one million Greeks were killed during World War One, as well as 1.5 million Armenians.
Related: 1933 Assyrian Genocide in Iraq Inspired the Word ‘Genocide’
Related: Raphael Lemkin and the Assyrian Genocide
Assyrians faced targeted killings, rape, abuse, destruction of homes and villages, and the razing of churches at the hands of the Ottoman Turks and their Kurdish allies.
Assyrians around the world continually work for the remembrance of the genocides committed against their nation.
According to Sabri Atman, the director the Assyrian Genocide and Research Center, 49 States in The United States have recognized the Armenian genocide and “we will work so that all of them will include the Assyrian genocide as well.” The Assyrian Genocide and Research Center also focuses on advocating for the State of California and other states to include in their history curriculum information about the Assyrian genocide.
© Assyrian International News Agency
