STATEMENT OF LT. GOVERNOR JOHN GARAMENDI ON OCCASION OF 92ND ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

States News Service
April 24, 2007 Tuesday
Washington

The following information was released by the office of the Lieutenant
Governor of California:

Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi issued the following statement:

"We join together today to honor the memory of the 1.5 million Armenian
people who perished in the genocide that began 92 years ago this day
in the Ottoman Empire.

"Tens-of-thousands of intellectuals, poets, blue-collar workers,
wives and children, had their lives cut short. Hundreds of thousands
more expelled from their homeland. The future of a people decimated.

"This genocide was a tragedy of epic proportion. And yet, our nation
still does not officially recognize this enormous loss of life and
liberty.

"I ask you today to join with me to honor those lost; to give support
to those few who escaped and remain with us; and to the generations
who have followed. Stand with me in solidarity; in asking our Congress
to recognize this horrific episode; in saying no to future genocides
and holocausts.

"It is our solemn obligation to always remember, it is our solemn
responsibility to prevent such occurrences today and in the future.

"Let us honor and remember those souls, lest history repeat itself."