ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Commentary:
Armenians have made significant contributions and have been vitally important within the Whitinsville community for over 100 years. It’s equally important to acknowledge and remember the atrocities of the Armenian Genocide.
The Genocide was the Ottoman government's systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915-1923.
The genocide was carried out during and after World War I and implemented in two phases—the wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population through massacre and subjection of army conscripts to forced labor, followed by the deportation of women, children, the elderly, and the infirmed on death marches leading to the Syrian Desert.
It happened, and we as a community should never forget.
During the Trump administration, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on October 29, 2019 to acknowledge the Genocide. Shortly thereafter the U.S. Senate unanimously approved the Resolution.
On April 24, 2021, President Biden recognized the atrocities as Genocide.
To learn about the Armenians in Whitinsville, click here.
S.J. Buma
APPROVED RESOLUTION RECOGNIZES THE GENOCIDE
The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a Resolution on December 12, 2019 formally recognizing the mass killings of 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey that took place a century ago.
Co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the nonbinding Resolution affirms that the genocide occurred and that Turkey is responsible.
Sen. Ted Cruz, said in a statement the Senate had tried for three consecutive weeks to pass the resolution and he was "grateful that today we have succeeded."
Cruz said, "Today, the Senate finally took a stand and spoke the truth — spoke the truth to darkness, spoke truth to evil, spoke truth to murder, spoke truth to genocide — and finally honored the 1.5 million innocent lives lost."
“I say to my friends and colleagues that genocide is genocide,” Menendez said on the Senate floor. “Senators in this body should have the simple courage to say it plainly, say it clearly, and say it without reservation.” Upon passage he said, "I am thankful that this resolution has passed at a time in which there are still survivors of the genocide [who] will be able to see that the Senate acknowledges what they went through," Menendez said.
"I've been waiting for this moment since I first came to Congress 27 years ago,'' tweeted Rep. Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat, the only Armenian-Assyrian member of Congress.
Meanwhile the Resolution affirms that the United States will "commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance" formally acknowledging the killings of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923. The resolution further rejects “efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise associate the United States government with denial of the Armenian genocide or any other genocide.”
Although Turkey generally acknowledges that Armenians were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces, it has disputed the figures and denies the killings amounted to genocide. For years, Turkey has waged a lobbying and diplomatic battle urging the U.S. not to use the word "genocide" to describe the slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million people.
The measure was seen as a stinging rebuke to Turkish President Erdogan. Turkey condemned the move and said it put the relationship between the two nations at risk.
The Resolution's passage came one day after a Senate committee advanced a sanctions bill aimed at Turkey for its military offensive against Kurdish forces in Syria in October 2019 and Turkey's recent purchase of the S-400 missile system from Russia.
Fahrettin Altun, Turkey's communications director, condemned both Senate measures.
1896 Donation by Arthur Fletcher Whitin to Armenian Relief:
Click here to read more about the Armenian Genocide and to read transcription of a thank you letter written to Arthur Fletcher Whitin in 1896 from Clara H. Lee, an American missionary working on Armenian relief in Turkey. Whitin donated $200 to Armenian Relief. $200 has a relative inflated value of $6,600 today.
The letter speaks of the suffering of Armenians under the rule of the Bloody Sultan.
Transcribed by Carol H. Brouwer, Northbridge Historical Society.
S.J. Buma
Commentary:
Armenians have made significant contributions and have been vitally important within the Whitinsville community for over 100 years. It’s equally important to acknowledge and remember the atrocities of the Armenian Genocide.
The Genocide was the Ottoman government's systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915-1923.
The genocide was carried out during and after World War I and implemented in two phases—the wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population through massacre and subjection of army conscripts to forced labor, followed by the deportation of women, children, the elderly, and the infirmed on death marches leading to the Syrian Desert.
It happened, and we as a community should never forget.
During the Trump administration, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on October 29, 2019 to acknowledge the Genocide. Shortly thereafter the U.S. Senate unanimously approved the Resolution.
On April 24, 2021, President Biden recognized the atrocities as Genocide.
To learn about the Armenians in Whitinsville, click here.
S.J. Buma
APPROVED RESOLUTION RECOGNIZES THE GENOCIDE
The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a Resolution on December 12, 2019 formally recognizing the mass killings of 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey that took place a century ago.
Co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the nonbinding Resolution affirms that the genocide occurred and that Turkey is responsible.
Sen. Ted Cruz, said in a statement the Senate had tried for three consecutive weeks to pass the resolution and he was "grateful that today we have succeeded."
Cruz said, "Today, the Senate finally took a stand and spoke the truth — spoke the truth to darkness, spoke truth to evil, spoke truth to murder, spoke truth to genocide — and finally honored the 1.5 million innocent lives lost."
“I say to my friends and colleagues that genocide is genocide,” Menendez said on the Senate floor. “Senators in this body should have the simple courage to say it plainly, say it clearly, and say it without reservation.” Upon passage he said, "I am thankful that this resolution has passed at a time in which there are still survivors of the genocide [who] will be able to see that the Senate acknowledges what they went through," Menendez said.
"I've been waiting for this moment since I first came to Congress 27 years ago,'' tweeted Rep. Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat, the only Armenian-Assyrian member of Congress.
Meanwhile the Resolution affirms that the United States will "commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance" formally acknowledging the killings of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923. The resolution further rejects “efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise associate the United States government with denial of the Armenian genocide or any other genocide.”
Although Turkey generally acknowledges that Armenians were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces, it has disputed the figures and denies the killings amounted to genocide. For years, Turkey has waged a lobbying and diplomatic battle urging the U.S. not to use the word "genocide" to describe the slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million people.
The measure was seen as a stinging rebuke to Turkish President Erdogan. Turkey condemned the move and said it put the relationship between the two nations at risk.
The Resolution's passage came one day after a Senate committee advanced a sanctions bill aimed at Turkey for its military offensive against Kurdish forces in Syria in October 2019 and Turkey's recent purchase of the S-400 missile system from Russia.
Fahrettin Altun, Turkey's communications director, condemned both Senate measures.
1896 Donation by Arthur Fletcher Whitin to Armenian Relief:
Click here to read more about the Armenian Genocide and to read transcription of a thank you letter written to Arthur Fletcher Whitin in 1896 from Clara H. Lee, an American missionary working on Armenian relief in Turkey. Whitin donated $200 to Armenian Relief. $200 has a relative inflated value of $6,600 today.
The letter speaks of the suffering of Armenians under the rule of the Bloody Sultan.
Transcribed by Carol H. Brouwer, Northbridge Historical Society.
S.J. Buma
