Proclaiming May 19th of 2026 as "Greek and Pontic Genocide Remembrance Day" in the State of Rhode Island

WHEREAS, Rhode Island is proud to be the home of numerous ethnic communities, many of whom have prospered and enjoyed the freedom and democracy upon which our nation was founded; tragically, throughout history, the people of many countries have not realized the same autonomy and equality; and

WHEREAS, From 1913 until 1923, in a systematic attempt to exterminate the entire Greek population in Pontus, Smyrna, Asia Minor, and Eastern Thrace of the Ottoman Empire took place. The Ottoman Turks directed the killing of 353,0 Pontian and over one million Anatolian and Asia Minor Greeks and over a million Armenians and 300,0 Assyrians living in Pontos, and Mesopotamia and an equal number who were forced to flee their homeland in one of the most condemnable atrocities in the history of the world; and

WHEREAS, The Ottoman and Kemals Neo Turks engaged in forced relocation, death marches, starvation, slaughter, rape, forced conversion to Islam, conscription into labor battalions, arbitrary executions, and destruction of Christian Orthodox cultural, historical and religious monuments to ethnically cleanse the Greek population and perpetrate the first mass genocide of the th century. Furthermore, the Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, and resulted in the deportation of nearly 2,000,0 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed along with the mass killing and deportation of Assyrians during the same period, and the remaining 500,000 survived but were expelled from their homes; and

WHEREAS, It is vital and proper to remember those who lost their lives in the Greek Genocide, and it is paramount that people of all nations look at this horrific event in our world’s not-so-distant history as a way to learn a valuable lesson, in order that such atrocities are not tolerated and are never committed again; and

WHEREAS, It is likewise important to pay tribute to the survivors of this atrocious period, as well as their descendants, who have made countless contributions to the enrichment of our culture and our way of life here in the Ocean State and who stand as an inspiration to oppressed people around the world; and

WHEREAS, The year 2026 will be memorialized throughout the world as the symbolic 107th Anniversary of the Genocide of the Pontian Greeks. May we never forget the brutality the Pontian Greeks experienced at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, and may we learn the hard lessons from the past in order that the history of the Greek Genocide, and all Genocides, never happen again; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby joins the Greek- American community on May th of each year in a solemn commemoration of the Greek and Pontic Genocide of 1913-1923; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to Miltiadis Tsavdaridis, President of the Pan- Pontian Federation of the USA and Canada.