The members of the Pan-Macedonian Association, one of the largest Hellenic organizations in US, would like to take this opportunity to express our warmest and heartfelt gratitude for the Proclamation that recognizes the Genocide of the Hellenic population in Asia Minor. We applaud you for supporting the indubitable and undeniable historical facts and thus by supporting the Proclamation you proved once more that America cares.

Although Turkey actively suppressed the truth about the slaughter for almost three million of its Christian minorities - Greek, Armenian and Assyrian - during and after World War I and the exile of millions of others, illustrious individuals such as Henry Morganthau did record and documented the facts. Morganthau, the American Ambassador to Constantinople during the era of First World War, in his book "I Was Sent to Athens", written in 1929, verifies the atrocities and war crimes that the Turks committed against the Hellenes of Asia Minor. George Horton, the American Consul General to Smyrna, in his book "The Blight of Asia", recounts the tragic story of the Greek and Armenian populations in Asia Minor at the hands of Moustafa Kemal's "New Turk" army.

Most recently, Thea Halo in her celebrated book, "Not Even my Name", tells her mother's story, ".then on the spring of 1920, Turkish soldiers pounded on doors with the butts of their rifles and shouted the proclamation issued by General Kemal: You are to leave this place. You are to take with you only what you can carry." So ended the three-thousand-year history of the Pontic Greeks who lived peacefully along the Black Sea shore of northern Turkey.

Most Honorable Governor, by signing the Proclamation of the Smyrna Catastrophe, you promote the true history to become known, not only to the Hellenes, but you advocate it to humanity. The world should know about the Smyrna Catastrophe. This kind of history should be known by everyone, we must learn that we can't sweep anguish and suffering under the rug and pretend these things never happened. If we do that we promote genocide and allow it to happen again and again.

Once again we are very grateful to you for supporting the Proclamation, and
thus you pledged to serve the true and genuine historical facts.

God Bless you and the State of New York,