US Fed News
April 21, 2005 Thursday 1:27 AM EST

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER SIGNS TWO BILLS

SACRAMENTO, Calif.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., issued the following news
release:

Gov. Schwarzenegger has signed the following two bills:

SB 121 by Committee on Local Government – Validations.

SB 424 by Senator Charles Poochigian (R-Fresno) – Armenian Genocide.

See signing message below.

To Members of the California State Senate:

I am signing SB 424 which will permanently recognize April 24th as
the Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide. This bill also
designates the period commencing the Sunday before April 24th and
concluding the following Sunday as the “Days of Remembrance of the
Armenian Genocide.”

Between 1915 and 1923, a systematic and deliberate campaign of
genocide by the Ottoman Turkish government resulted in the deaths of
over 1.5 million Armenians and the exile of a people from their
historic homeland. During this period, tens of thousands of displaced
Armenians took refuge in the United States, many in California. These
survivors embraced this country and this state. Among them and their
descendents emerged leaders in business, agriculture, sports,
academics and the arts. Today, a few survivors remain as a living
testament to the horror that took place 90 years ago. We must
recognize crimes against humanity if we are to prevent them; silence
in the face of genocide effectively encourages those who would commit
such atrocities in the future.

In 1981, President Reagan said, “Like the genocide of the Armenians
before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it and
like too many other such persecutions of too many other peoples the
lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten.” I am proud to
represent the people of the State of California in recognizing the
historical persecution of the Armenian people and join with them in
urging Turkey to acknowledge the fact of Armenian Genocide.

Sincerely,

Arnold Schwarzenegger