SOAD drummer John Dolmayan blasts Turkey for denial of Genocide

April 24, 2017 - 15:17 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Each year Turkey tightens its grip on its own people, abusing civil liberties and condemning truth, drummer of System of a Down, John Dolmayan said in an Instagram post as he paid tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

"April 24th 2017 marks 102 years of Turkish denial of the Armenian Holocaust, each year the facts become harder to deny and each year Turkey tightens its grip on its own people, abusing civil liberties and condemning truth," Dolmayan said.

"The shame lies with its leaders as does the responsibility, denial of genocide is the continuation of genocide."

In 2014, System of a Down announced the Wake Up The Souls Tour to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The tour included a free concert in Republic Square in Yerevan, Armenia on April 23, 2015, their first show in the country.

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John Dolmayan's Instagram post

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.