April 7, 1986

STATE OF NEW JERSEY
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

WHEREAS, April 24, 1986, will mark the 71st Anniversary of the massacre of 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children living in the Turkish Ottoman Empire; and

WHEREAS, this day serves as an unfortunate reminder of man's inhumanity to man, and a reminder that this genocide is totally against the principles of all who uphold human rights; and

WHEREAS, the rights of free conscience and free worship for which the Armenian martyrs died are principles still held most sacred by the Armenian people; and

WHEREAS, we should also remember the accomplishments of a scattered people once they found a new home in the United States where their communities flourished; and

WHEREAS, the works and contributions to business, the art, the professions, academia, government and philanthropic endeavors which the descendants of these immigrants have created are records of which all Americans and all Armenian-Americans can be proud;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, THOMAS H. KEAN, Governor of the State of New Jersey, do hereby proclaim

APRIL 24, 1986

as

ARMENIAN MARTYRS' DAY

in New Jersey,

GIVEN, under my hand and the Great Seal of the State of New Jersey, this seventh day of April in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eighty-six and of the Independence of the United States, the two hundred and tenth.

(signed)
Thomas H. Kean
GOVERNOR