Mayor George Van Dusen of the Village of Skokie, Illinois, issued an anti-Armenian proclamation on February 26, 2021, marking the “29th Anniversary of Khojaly Massacre Commemoration Day (see below).

The Mayor’s proclamation makes many one-sided statements denigrating Armenians, in reference to the first war over Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), while ignoring not only the long and complicated history of the conflict, but also whitewashing Azerbaijan’s persecution of Armenians over the last hundred years.

The mayor’s proclamation is most disturbing in light of Azerbaijan’s and Turkey’s recent war on Artsakh, from September 27 to November 9, 2020, where an estimated five thousand Armenians were killed and a hundred thousand Armenians turned into refugees.

Amnesty International has confirmed that Turkey and Azerbaijan indiscriminately fired cluster bombs and other prohibited munitions into residential areas of Armenia and Artsakh – in clear violation of international law. Such war crimes, the torture and killing of Armenian POWs and civilians, the use of Syrian mercenaries in the war, all in the midst of the global pandemic are evidence of the brutality of the Turkish and Azerbaijani governments. Mayor Van Dusen’s proclamation adds insult to injury to Armenians everywhere.

Please take a moment to contact Mayor Van Dusen to express your disappointment in the Mayor’s decision to issue such a biased and hurtful proclamation and ask that he rescind the proclamation immediately. Once you have taken this action, please encourage your family and friends, especially those who live in the greater Illinois area to do the same.

Please email and call Mayor Van Dusen’s office expressing your outrage. Contact information and suggested scripts are below.

Call Mayor Van Dusen

Sample Phone Script:

Hello, my name is [Your Name] and I am calling to express my disappointment in Mayor Van Dusen’s decision to issue a one-sided, anti-Armenian “Khojaly Commemoration Day” proclamation condemning Armenians for massacring Azerbaijanis. The proclamation painted a very one-sided picture of this Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. I urge the mayor to rescind this proclamation, which is very hurtful to Armenians, especially in light of Azerbaijan’s brutal war against Armenians last fall.

Click here to send an email with a pre-written message to Mayor Walsh.

If your browser does not support this functionality, use the following email address and the text below. If you wish, feel free to customize the subject line and letter.

Here is the list of email addresses:

George.VanDusen@skokie.org

Here is a sample subject line: Rescind the biased and hurtful Anti-Armenian Proclamation

Here is a sample letter:

Dear Mayor Van Dusen: 

I was disappointed to learn that Mayor Van Dusen issued a “Khojaly Commemoration Day” proclamation, condemning Armenians for massacring Azerbaijanis in 1992. His proclamation painted a very one-sided picture of the Nagorno-Karabakh war, and completely ignored the hundreds of thousands of Armenians who were viciously attacked, killed, or driven out of Azerbaijan. I urge you to rescind this anti-Armenian proclamation, which is very hurtful to Armenians in the Village of Skokie, especially in light of Azerbaijan’s brutal war on Armenians just a few months ago.