Bill Text: TX HR191 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Recognizing the Armenian genocide.
Sponsorship: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 43-10)
Status: (Passed) 2017-05-25 - Reported enrolled [HR191 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HR191-Enrolled.html
| H.R. No. 191 | ||
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| WHEREAS, During World War I, the crumbling Ottoman Empire | ||
| began a systematic campaign to eradicate its Armenian population, | ||
| which then numbered more than two million; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Armenians and other minority populations had | ||
| contributed to the prosperity of the once-mighty empire for | ||
| centuries, but as its borders shrank and its influence diminished, | ||
| ethnic tensions flared; after the Ottomans entered World War I, | ||
| their armies suffered heavy losses to Russian forces in the | ||
| Caucasus, and Armenians in the region were accused of aiding the | ||
| Russian victory; on April 24, 1915, the government arrested several | ||
| hundred Armenian intellectuals, who were later executed; Armenian | ||
| soldiers were disarmed and transferred to labor battalions, in | ||
| which they were worked to death or killed outright; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In the spring and summer of 1915, under the guise of | ||
| "resettlement," Armenians were driven from their homes in Armenia | ||
| and Anatolia and herded through the Syrian desert to concentration | ||
| camps; many of the deportees died along the way from hunger, thirst, | ||
| and exhaustion, while others were massacred; by 1918, an estimated | ||
| one million Armenians had lost their lives, and survivors endured | ||
| tremendous hardships as refugees; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The end of the war brought a temporary respite, but | ||
| in 1920, the atrocities resumed until the ultimate collapse of the | ||
| empire and formation of the Republic of Turkey; as many as 1.5 | ||
| million Armenians perished and today, only 3 million live in | ||
| Armenia, a country that covers no more than 10 percent of the | ||
| ancient Armenian homeland, while the Armenian diaspora numbers 8 to | ||
| 10 million in countries around the world, including the United | ||
| States; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In 1915, the governments of France, Great Britain, | ||
| and Russia decried the slaughter of Armenians as "a crime against | ||
| humanity"; American ambassador Henry Morgenthau, who led the | ||
| humanitarian response, characterized the imperial deportation | ||
| orders as "the death warrant to a whole race"; the persecution is | ||
| considered genocide by most historians and has been officially | ||
| acknowledged as such by numerous countries, among them France, | ||
| Argentina, Greece, and Russia; this horrific event is a dark | ||
| chapter in modern history, and the world must never forget the | ||
| suffering of the Armenian people; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 85th Texas | ||
| Legislature hereby recognize the Armenian genocide. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Speaker of the House | ||
| I certify that H.R. No. 191 was adopted by the House on May | ||
| 19, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 137, Nays 0, 5 present, not | ||
| voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
