- By Anne Runkle
Members of state Rep. Mari Manoogian’s own family died in what historians traditionally refer to as the Armenian Genocide.
Manoogian, of Birmingham, sponsored a resolution to declare Saturday, April 24, as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in Michigan.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is expected to recognize the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empiire as a genocide, breaking a decades-long tradition of U.S. presidents refraining from using the term for fear of jeopardizing relations between the United States and Turkey.
“April 24 is a day of mourning, but also of celebration. While we remember the lives lost in the Genocide – including members of my own family – we also keep in mind the ongoing survival of Armenians throughout the world,” Manoogian said.
“Every Armenian alive today is a symbol of strength in the face of oppression, racial hatred, and the ongoing denial of our generational pain and suffering. Armenians – including Armenian-Americans – thrive today in the arts, business, education, law, and public service because of the resilience of our ancestors; it is them who we honor this day.”
Biden’s anticipated declaration would fulfill a campaign promise he made in October and reflect his willingness to anger Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid a growing list of disagreements over Turkey's arms deals with Russia, democratic backsliding, and interventions in Syria and Libya.
It would also be the second time the Biden administration has formally declared a genocide at the risk of infuriating a major power, following its determination that China is carrying out a genocide against Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region.
Turkey has acknowledged that many Armenians were killed in fighting with Ottoman forces in 1915 but disputes the larger casualty counts and denies that it constituted genocide.
Biden is expected to speak on the matter on Saturday, April 24, the date Ottomans apprehended Armenian dignitaries in Istanbul in 1915 in what many scholars view as the opening phase of the first genocide of the 20th century.
President Ronald Reagan referred to the killings as genocide during his time in office, but none of his successors have, for fear of alienating Turkey, a NATO ally that views the term as slander against its founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Historians estimate that 1.5 million Armenians were killed, and commonly classify the killings as a genocide.
From 1915-1923, Armenians – as well as Greeks, Assyrian-Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, Maronites and other Christians – were subject to torture, starvation, mass murder and exile from their homeland by the Ottoman Empire, according to a release from Manoogian.
Michigan is home to more than 16,000 Armenian-Americans, the release said.
Manoogian represents Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township and the eastern portion of West Bloomfield Township in the state House.
The Washington Post contributed to this report.