HOUSE RESOLUTION PROCLAIMING MAY 19TH OF 2026 AS GREEK AND PONTIC GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE DAY IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND, the official text

H8567 2026 -- H 8567 ======== LC006457 ======== STATE OF RHODE ISLAND IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2026 ____________ H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N PROCLAIMING MAY 19TH OF 2026 AS GREEK AND PONTIC GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE DAY IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND Introduced By: Representatives Solomon, Blazejewski, Kazarian, Chippendale, Paplauskas, Casey, Kennedy, Ajello, Hopkins, and Shallcross Smith Date Introduced: May 19, 2026 Referred To: House read and passed 1 WHEREAS, Rhode Island is proud to be the home of numerous ethnic communities, 2 many of whom have prospered and enjoyed the freedom and democracy upon which our nation 3 was founded; tragically, throughout history, the people of many countries have not realized the 4 same autonomy and equality; and 5 WHEREAS, From 1913 until 1923, in a systematic attempt to exterminate the entire 6 Greek population in Pontus, Smyrna, Asia Minor, and Eastern Thrace of the Ottoman Empire 7 took place. The Ottoman Turks directed the killing of 353,000 Pontian and over one million 8 Anatolian and Asia Minor Greeks and over a million Armenians and 300,000 Assyrians living in 9 Pontos, and Mesopotamia and an equal number who were forced to flee their homeland in one of 10 the most condemnable atrocities in the history of the world; and 11 WHEREAS, The Ottoman and Kemals Neo Turks engaged in forced relocation, death 12 marches, starvation, slaughter, rape, forced conversion to Islam, conscription into labor 13 battalions, arbitrary executions, and destruction of Christian Orthodox cultural, historical and 14 religious monuments to ethnically cleanse the Greek population and perpetrate the first mass 15 genocide of the 20th century. Furthermore, the Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried 16 out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, and resulted in the deportation of nearly 17 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed along with the 18 mass killing and deportation of Assyrians during the same period, and the remaining 500,000 19 survived but were expelled from their homes; and 1 WHEREAS, It is vital and proper to remember those who lost their lives in the Greek 2 Genocide, and it is paramount that people of all nations look at this horrific event in our world’s 3 not-so-distant history as a way to learn a valuable lesson, in order that such atrocities are not 4 tolerated and are never committed again; and 5 WHEREAS, It is likewise important to pay tribute to the survivors of this atrocious 6 period, as well as their descendants, who have made countless contributions to the enrichment of 7 our culture and our way of life here in the Ocean State and who stand as an inspiration to 8 oppressed people around the world; and 9 WHEREAS, The year 2026 will be memorialized throughout the world as the symbolic 10 107th Anniversary of the Genocide of the Pontian Greeks. May we never forget the brutality the 11 Pontian Greeks experienced at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, and may we learn the hard 12 lessons from the past in order that the history of the Greek Genocide, and all Genocides, never 13 happen again; now, therefore be it 14 RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby 15 joins the Greek-American community on May 19th of each year in a solemn commemoration of 16 the Greek and Pontic Genocide of 1913-1923; and be it further 17 RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to 18 transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to Miltiadis Tsavdaridis, President of the Pan- 19 Pontian Federation of the USA and Canada. ======== LC006457 ======== LC006457 - Page 2 of 2