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R E S O L U T I O N
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WHEREAS, During World War I, the crumbling Ottoman Empire |
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began a systematic campaign to eradicate its Armenian population, |
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which then numbered more than two million; and |
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WHEREAS, Armenians and other minority populations had |
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contributed to the prosperity of the once-mighty empire for |
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centuries, but as its borders shrank and its influence diminished, |
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ethnic tensions flared; after the Ottomans entered World War I, |
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their armies suffered heavy losses to Russian forces in the |
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Caucasus, and Armenians in the region were accused of aiding the |
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Russian victory; on April 24, 1915, the government arrested several |
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hundred Armenian intellectuals, who were later executed; Armenian |
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soldiers were disarmed and transferred to labor battalions, in |
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which they were worked to death or killed outright; and |
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WHEREAS, In the spring and summer of 1915, under the guise of |
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"resettlement," Armenians were driven from their homes in Armenia |
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and Anatolia and herded through the Syrian desert to concentration |
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camps; many of the deportees died along the way from hunger, thirst, |
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and exhaustion, while others were massacred; by 1918, an estimated |
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one million Armenians had lost their lives, and survivors endured |
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tremendous hardships as refugees; and |
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WHEREAS, The end of the war brought a temporary respite, but |
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in 1920, the atrocities resumed until the ultimate collapse of the |
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empire and formation of the Republic of Turkey; as many as 1.5 |
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million Armenians perished and today, only 3 million live in |
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Armenia, a country that covers no more than 10 percent of the |
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ancient Armenian homeland, while the Armenian diaspora numbers 8 to |
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10 million in countries around the world, including the United |
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States; and |
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WHEREAS, In 1915, the governments of France, Great Britain, |
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and Russia decried the slaughter of Armenians as "a crime against |
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humanity"; American ambassador Henry Morgenthau, who led the |
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humanitarian response, characterized the imperial deportation |
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orders as "the death warrant to a whole race"; the persecution is |
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considered genocide by most historians and has been officially |
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acknowledged as such by numerous countries, among them France, |
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Argentina, Greece, and Russia; this horrific event is a dark |
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chapter in modern history, and the world must never forget the |
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suffering of the Armenian people; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 85th Texas |
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Legislature hereby recognize the Armenian genocide. |