Bipartisan resolution introduced to Congress calling for recognition of Semele Massacre/Assyrian Genocide of 1933

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Members of Assyrian advocacy organizations gathered in Washington DC Tuesday in support of a bipartisan resolution being introduced at Congress to commemorate the Semele Massacre of 1933, when Iraqi armed forces murdered an estimated 3,000 Assyrian men, women, and children in an act of Genocide. Assyrians continue to experience modern-day crimes against humanity and ethnic persecution, currently from Islamic State actors.

The June 6, 2023 resolution calls on the US to reject any effort to deny the Assyrian Genocide and for Turkey to officially recognize it. The resolution was introduced by US Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (R) and fellow lawmakers Representatives Gus Bilirakis (R), Anna Eshoo (D), Brian Fitzpatrick (R), Jan Schakowsky (D), and Brad Sherman (D).

Similar resolutions have been introduced at previous Congresses, but have remained at committee stage. “It’s been 90 years that we’ve been trying to get worldwide recognition about this atrocity against unarmed women and children,” Sam Darmo, an Assyrian American who advocated for Tuesday’s resolution to be introduced, told reporters.

“The resilience and endurance of the Assyrian people is commendable and praiseworthy, despite being victims of an ethnocide that is being continued by the Islamic State,” the resolution reads. “The Assyrian community across the world continues to feel the effects of the Assyrian Genocide, including families that have never been reunited.”

The resolution therefore serves to “commemorate the Assyrian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance; reject efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise associate the United States Government with denial of the Assyrian Genocide or any other genocide; call upon the Republic of Turkey to officially recognize the Assyrian Genocide; and encourage education and public understanding of the facts of the Assyrian Genocide, including the United States’ role in the humanitarian relief effort, and the relevance of the Assyrian Genocide to modern-day crimes against humanity.”

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