Bill Text: CA ACR96 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: California Day of Remembrance for the Massacres of
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-3)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-17 - Referred to Com. on RLS. [ACR96 Detail]
Download: California-2011-ACR96-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: ACR 96 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Fuentes, Achadjian, and Gatto
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Ammiano, Block, Charles Calderon,
Gordon, Hall, Jeffries, Pan, and Williams)
(Coauthors: Senators Cannella, Correa, and Rubio)
JANUARY 30, 2012
Relative to the California Day of Remembrance for the Massacres of
Armenians in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 96, as introduced, Fuentes. California Day of Remembrance for
the Massacres of Armenians.
This measure would designate February 27, 2012, as California Day
of Remembrance for the Massacres of Armenians in Sumgait, Kirovabad,
and Baku, and would call upon the people of California to use
vigilance to promote greater tolerance in Azerbaijan and ensure the
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict while protecting
the security of the Armenians in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, During the seven decades of the USSR's existence, the
government of Soviet Azerbaijan conducted a systematic policy of
removal of Karabakh Armenians from their historic homeland; and
WHEREAS, In the days before the Sumgait massacre, Armenians in
Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous region that Soviet leader Joseph
Stalin had arbitrarily severed from Armenia and forced under Soviet
Azerbaijani administration, had been peacefully demonstrating against
decades of Soviet Azerbaijani repression and discrimination; and
WHEREAS, In spite of an attempted press blackout by Soviet
authorities, reports from the Financial Times (March 16, 1988) and
the New York Times (May 22, 1988) noted Armenians being "hunted" down
and killed in their homes in Sumgait; and
WHEREAS, The New York Times reported on April 27, 1988, that
"h]uge, peaceful street demonstrations were followed by a rampage of
anti-Armenian violence in Sumgait ..."; and
WHEREAS, Within months of the Sumgait massacres, the United States
Senate unanimously passed Amendment 2690 to the Fiscal Year 1989
Foreign Operations Appropriation bill (H.R. 4782) in July 1988,
concerning the Karabakh conflict and calling on the Soviet government
to "respect the legitimate aspirations of the Armenian people ..."
and noted that "dozens of Armenians have been killed and hundreds
injured during the recent unrests ..."; and
WHEREAS, Sumgait was followed by anti-Armenian massacres and
deportations in Kirovabad (November 21-27, 1988) and in Baku (January
13-19, 1990), leading to the deportation of over 350,000 Armenians
from Azerbaijan; and
WHEREAS, As a result of the Baku massacres, United States Senator
Pete Wilson (CA-R) along with his United States Senate colleagues
sent a letter to then Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev stating, "we
are deeply concerned about the murders, tortures, and property
destruction that the Armenian community of Baku has suffered over the
past six days as a result of attacks by organized groups of
Azerbaijanis ..." and noted that "the horrifying upsurge of violence
in Azerbaijan only dramatizes the need for the Soviet Government to
insure that the 160,000 residents of the enclave of Nagorno Karabakh
can exercise their autonomy by reuniting with Soviet Armenia"; and
WHEREAS, The Azerbaijani government continues to threaten war
against the people of Nagorno Karabakh; and
WHEREAS, Armenians in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic remain at risk
of yet another genocide until the time when a peaceful resolution to
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is reached that guarantees the freedom
and security for these people while supporting their right to
self-determination; and
WHEREAS, California is home to the largest Armenian American
population in the United States, which includes survivors of these
massacres and refugees from Azerbaijan, and this community living in
California has enriched our state through their leadership in
business, agriculture, academia, government, and the arts; and
WHEREAS, Recognition of these instances of man's inhumanity to man
is crucial to ensuring against the repetition of such acts and
provides the American public with a greater understanding of its
heritage; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California
hereby designates February 27, 2012, as "California Day of
Remembrance for the Massacres of Armenians in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and
Baku"; and be it further
Resolved, That the people of California are called upon to use
vigilance to promote greater tolerance in Azerbaijan and ensure the
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict while protecting
the security of the Armenians in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic; and
be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the Governor and to the Armenian National
Committee of America-Western Region.
