Prominent activist and System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian has published an article in the New Europe periodical, speaking about the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the US House of Representatives and Turkey’s denialist policy on the matter.
The article’s author noted that the adoption of the resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide by the US House of Representatives has caused a major rift in Turkey’s relations with its NATO partners. For years, Turkey has done everything to obstruct campaigns aimed at the recognition of the Armenian Genocide worldwide, mainly through its policy of the stick and the carrot; moreover, Turkey has used the genocide as political capital against many of the world’s democracies. Turkey’s policy has also had disastrous consequences for its own democracy and has hindered the establishment of a legal, secular state.
In recent years, Erdogan’s role in the imprisonment of American pastor Andrew Brunson, the purchase of S-400 missile systems from Russia, and the military operation in northern Syria have led to this NATO member country losing the trust placed in it. Here the question arises: if one refuses to admit one’s guilt, will one not commit new crimes against humanity?
Armenians scattered around the world witnessed Turkey’s shelling of Kurdish armed forces and the civilian population in Syria, Tankian wrote.
The article’s author also noted that Armenian Americans will continue the fight for Senate recognition of the Armenian Genocide, because the importance of that resolution lies in Turkey understanding that it must pay for its denial of the genocide and its treatment of national minorities and activists.
According to Tankian, the adoption of resolutions will have no effect on Trump or the State Department, but it can send a powerful message to the world that Americans will not tolerate such crimes.
Tankian called on the other states of the world to adopt the same position.
