AZ SR1001

Recognizes the Semele Assyrian Massacre of 1933 as a crime against humanity, acknowledging the deaths of thousands of unarmed Assyrian men, women, and children killed in Iraq on August 7, 1933.

Honors the memory of victims who were slaughtered using machine guns and bayonets, with over 60 Assyrian villages looted and destroyed following the Assyrians' surrender and pledge of loyalty to the Iraqi government.

Proclaims August 7, 2021 as Assyrian Martyrs Day in the State of Arizona to commemorate the massacre and recognize Arizona's commitment to human rights and crimes against humanity prevention.

Notes the historical context that Assyrians, as indigenous Mesopotamians, lost two-thirds of their population during World War I and faced abandonment by the British government despite being considered the West's "smallest ally" in the Middle East.