Los Angeles Times, CA
April 28 2006
L.A. Band Presses Congress to Recognize Armenian Genocide
System of a Down, whose members are Armenian American, steps up its
campaign.
By Nick Timiraos, Times Staff Writer
April 28, 2006
WASHINGTON – System of a Down lead singer Serj Tankian and drummer
John Dolmayan sit on a black leather couch, signing autographs,
chatting about their favorite local venues and waiting to take the
stage.
But this isn’t their ordinary tour – it’s no Roxy, Astoria or House
of Blues. Their fans here are congressional staffers, who ask the
rockers to autograph copies of a political magazine while waiting for
a congressman to arrive for a political strategy meeting.
The L.A.-based alternative-metal band spent the week in Washington
to lobby for congressional recognition of the Armenian genocide of
1915 to 1918, in which an estimated 1.2 million Armenians died at the
hands of the Ottoman Empire, which became the modern republic of
Turkey. The Turkish government disputes that a genocide took place.
The band members, who all are Armenian American, each had
grandparents who survived the genocide and have adopted the cause of
winning worldwide recognition and acknowledgment from Turkey.
“My grandfather’s 96, and I know he’s not going to be around
forever,” Tankian said at a meeting with Rep. Adam B. Schiff
(D-Burbank) on Tuesday. “I’d like to be the one to say to him that
Americans have recognized the genocide.”
Musicians often express themselves politically in their songs, and
have made frequent appearances at rallies and on Capitol Hill. But
most of their direct lobbying efforts here tend to focus more on the
music business itself – calling for an end to illegal music
downloading, for example. Fewer get actively involved in the
political process, as has the successful California group which has
won a Grammy and is playing to ever larger audiences worldwide.
In the hurried marble corridors of Capitol Hill, the band members
offered a marked contrast. Dolmayan’s mohawk haircut topped his
sweater and jeans, while Tankian wore a blazer to go with long curls
and goatee.
“I’m usually a little more comfortable behind the drum set,” a
somewhat sheepish Dolmayan said at a Capitol Hill gathering Wednesday
as he reached for a microphone and surveyed his unfamiliar
surroundings.
The rock band’s Washington tour included an annual Capitol Hill
observance of the genocide and a protest at the Turkish Embassy on
Monday that organizers say drew more than 700.
The band was presented with the Voice of Justice Award by the
Armenian National Committee, an Armenian political group, on
Wednesday. A day earlier, the band attended a screening of
“Screamers,” a new documentary detailing System of a Down’s campaign
for genocide recognition.
Relaxed and laid back, they met Tuesday with sponsors of two
resolutions that would officially recognize the genocide, Schiff and
Rep. George P. Radanovich (R-Mariposa), and other lawmakers. Though
both resolutions received broad support in the House International
Relations Committee, they face an uphill battle. Congressional
leaders, following appeals from the White House, do not want to pass
the resolutions because they would upset Turkey.
The Turkish government insists that the deaths resulted from ethnic
insurrection and wartime clashes with Turks.
“Armenian allegations of genocide have never been historically or
legally substantiated,” Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy said in a
statement in response to a PBS documentary aired last week.
Schiff remains optimistic that this year supporters will win the
right to a floor vote.
“With System of a Down coming, with the pressure around the country
on the speaker [of the House] … we’ve never had this kind of strong
support,” says Schiff, whose district includes Glendale, a city of
210,000 that is 40% Armenian American.
The issue is prominent in System of a Down’s performances. The band
has played an annual “Souls” benefit concert since 2000 to benefit
genocide recognition efforts. They’ve also talked about the genocide
at their concerts and in song lyrics. “P.L.U.C.K.” (“Politically
Lying, Unholy, Cowardly Killers,”) from their 1998 debut album,
addresses “whole race genocide.”
It’s not the only political issue the band takes on. They won this
year’s Grammy for best hard rock performance of their song,
“B.Y.O.B.” (“Bring Your Own Bombs”), which asks: “Why don’t
presidents fight the war? Why do they always send the poor?”
System of a Down formed in Hollywood in 1995 and released its first
album in 1998. Its second album, Toxicity, debuted at the top of
American and Canadian charts in 2001. It has sold more than 6 million
copies worldwide.
For Dolmayan, it’s not a question of if the resolution will pass, but
when. He said the resolution was more than a symbolic act, and would
protect the right to teach the Armenian genocide in schools. “It
forces Turkey’s hand, and that’s very important,” he said. “If
America doesn’t recognize it, how can we expect it from Turkey?”