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Indiana Governor Eric J. Holcomb issued a powerful proclamation memorializing the Ottoman Turkish Empire’s centrally-planned and executed annihilation of close to three million Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and Syriacs, making the Hoosier State the 48th U.S. state to properly recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America – Eastern Region (ANCA-ER).

Governor Holcomb also declared November 6-12, 2017 as “Armenia Awareness Week” and invited the citizens of Indiana to “duly note this occasion,” the source said.

“We welcome this proclamation by Governor Holcomb, making Indiana the 48th state in the union to officially re-affirm this international crime against humanity,” said ANCA-ER Community Outreach and Communications Director Artur Martirosyan. “This proclamation serves as a reminder not only for the citizens of Indiana, but also for the denialist government of Turkey, which — for over a century — has been trying to hold truth hostage.”

Noting that the Ottoman Turkish government’s crime “still requires justice,” Gov. Holcomb’s proclamation cites Hoosier State’s active participation in the Near East Relief, an example of outpouring of generosity by the American people from the onset of the Armenian Genocide (1915-1923) and for 15 subsequent years in rescuing and providing assistance to hundreds of thousands of men, women and children who were victims of the genocide. The document recounts the cycle of subsequent genocides of the 20th and 21st centuries, specifically mentioning the Islamic State’s genocide against Middle East Christians, Yezidis, and other minorities. It concludes with the assertion that by “recognizing, consistently remembering, and educating about the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust and all cases of past and ongoing genocide, we help protect historic memory, ensure that similar atrocities do not occur again and remain vigilant against hatred, persecution and tyranny.”

Alabama and Mississippi are the last two U.S. states that have not yet officially memorialized and condemned the Armenian Genocide.

The full text of the Indiana proclamation is available at the ANCA website.