SYSTEM OF A DOWN TO LAUNCH THREE-DAY WASHINGTON, DC CAMPAIGN FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 04 2006
LOS ANGELES, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Serj Tankian
and John Dolmayan of the Grammy Award-winning band System of a Down
will travel to Washington, DC on April 24th for a three-day campaign
to urge Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and other Congressional
leaders to end their complicity in Turkey’s ongoing denial of the
Armenian Genocide, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
reported. On the evening of Monday, April 24th, the group members
will join with the ANCA and Armenian Youth Federation in leading a
grassroots demonstration outside the gates of the Turkish Embassy
in Washington, DC. The Turkish government, through its Embassy
in Washington, spends millions of dollars each year to bully,
threaten, and blackmail the U.S. government not to recognize the
Armenian Genocide. The band members will devote Tuesday, April 25th
to providing interviews to the political media in Washington, and,
in the evening, hosting a Congressional screening of “Screamers,”
a new documentary by filmmaker Carla Garapedian about the band’s
worldwide campaign for Armenian Genocide recognition. On Wednesday
April 26th, System will meet with key Members of Congress to urge
them to allow a vote on legislation recognizing the Armenian Genocide,
and will participate in the annual Capitol Hill commemoration of the
Armenian Genocide. This event, now in its 11th year, is regularly
attended by over 30 Members of Congress, diplomats, ethnic community
leaders, human rights activists, genocide prevention advocates, and
Armenian Americans from across the country. Congressional legislation
recognizing the Armenian Genocide (H.Res.316 / H.Con.Res.195 /
S.Res.320) has broad bipartisan support, but has been blocked from
coming to a vote by Congressional leaders, despite the fact that,
five years ago, U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert promised to allow
Members to vote on this human rights measure. In September of last
year, Serj Tankian and John Dolmayan from the band traveled to the
Speaker’s hometown of Batavia, Illinois to lead a rally urging him to
allow a vote on the Armenian Genocide legislation. During the rally,
Tankian delivered a personal and powerfully worded message calling
on the Speaker to do the right thing, and stressing that “historical
truths should never be denied in a democracy – especially one with
such a proud heritage of freedom.” Speaker Hastert has it in his power
to accomplish one of System’s goals – official U.S. recognition of
Turkey’s destruction of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923. By
allowing Congress to vote on this legislation, Speaker Hastert can
end U.S. denial of this crime and open the doors to justice – to
the restoration, reparation, and restitution owed to the victims of
genocide. By continuing to block a vote on this legislation, Hastert
effectively joins in the denial of this crime against humanity, and the
denial of justice to an entire nation. The members of System of a Down,
Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, John Dolmayan and Shavo Odadjian, who
are of Armenian descent, all personally lost family members and family
history to the Armenian Genocide. “Because so much of my family history
was lost in the Armenian Genocide,” said Malakian, “my grandfather,
who was very young at the time, doesn’t know his true age. How many
people can say they don’t know how old they are?” Tankian, Dolmayan
and Odadjian all identify their grandparents’ memories as the only
links they have to their respective family heritages, as most of their
families were obliterated during the Armenian Genocide. “It’s important
for people to be aware of the Armenian Genocide,” explained Tankian,
“and that those actions continue to be covered up by the Turkish
government, the U.S. State Department, Turkey’s allies in the defense
and oil industries, and by our present U.S. Administration. Had the
Armenian Genocide been acknowledged as a Crime Against Humanity as
it was, Hitler might not have thought he could get away with the
Jewish Holocaust. History does and will repeat itself, unless we stop
that cycle.”