 IN
THE second decade of the twentieth century in the Turkish village of Efkere, a
six year old Armenian boy called Stepan Haytayan watched as his father was
wrestled away from him and tied with rope to a line of fellow men – everyday,
working, well-meaning men – by Turkish soldiers of the Ottoman Empire. The young
boy tried to kiss his father, but was pushed aside in the dirt by gun-toting
soldiers. He never saw his father again. Soon afterwards he discovered the body
of his grandmother amongst many corpses of friends, relatives and neighbours.
Soldiers had callously tried to throw her body into water to dispense of any
evidence, but her hair became entangled in thorns and lay there in the sun
overnight.
The young boy and his brother tried to untangle their grandmother, but her head
became separated from her body. Eventually they freed it and threw the head into
the water, before they were rounded up, separated and put into orphanages. Soon
afterwards the boy discovered the grave of his brother and tried to dig him up
with his bare hands, before soldiers again intervened: “Forget it, he’s dead.”
Miraculously Stephan survived. He fled Armenia, his home country torn apart by
genocide and persecution that saw the rape and murder of 1.5 million fellow
citizens between 1915 and 1922, eventually relocating to America where he tried
to forget the atrocities. He started a family and had children and
grandchildren, who relocated to LA in the 70s.
Two decades later, one of his grandsons started a band inspired by such tales
told by their ancestors tirelessly dedicated themselves to alerting the world of
this genocide that the Turkish authorities consistently deny ever even happened.
“Who remembers the Armenians?” scoffed Hitler in 1939 as he embarked on his own
elimination of European Jews.
The young boy’s grandson was Serj Tankian. The band was System Of A
Down. And since the metal quartet rose to prominence in 1998 Tankian and his
bandmates have devoted their time to become ‘screamers’, the term given to those
seeking to speak - or, in SOAD’s case, literally scream - the truth about
this and other major historical cover-up’s.
‘SCREAMERS’ IS also the name of a new BBC-funded documentary directed by
film-maker Carla Garepedian that investigates the Armenian genocide and
follows the efforts of Tankian and bandmates Shavo Odadjian, Daron Malakian and
John Dolmayan as they lobby the US and UK governments to acknowledge ‘genocide’.
Up until now they have shied away from the term for fear of upsetting the
Turkish government and damaging economic and diplomatic relations. Turkey, after
all, proved to be a perfect location from which to launch missiles upon Iraq in
2003. Once again, it all comes down to money and greed.
“I'd like to see if they can tell Jews around the world that we shouldn't force
Germany to use the word ‘Holocaust’ because we need them to help fight an unjust
war in Iraq,” explains Serj Tankian today. “That's exactly what they're saying
here. That the U.S ‘needs’ Turkey for Iraq, for oil, for peace in the Middle
East, for trade, for Europe. The truth is that apologists for denial of Genocide
always encourage the fascists within a regime because they allow the people on
the fringe to get away with murder”.
The film is both brilliantly rendered and researched and obviously short on
belly laughs but - all politics aside – ‘Screamers’ is also a must for fans of
the band and heavy music. Tracking the quartet across the US, Europe and onto
the UK during their ‘Hypnotize/Mezmerize’ tour of 2005, it features a wealth of
live footage, interviews with all band members and even fans at the Brixton
Academy shows. ‘Screamers’ also captures Tankian and Dolmayan pressing the US
Speaker of The House Dennis Hastert to raise the issue in government.
A recent London premier of ‘Screamers’ saw the likes of Elton John join
London’s theatrical and media champagne-swilling elite to be bombarded by ninety
minutes of System Of Down’s music and survivor’s testimonies – including moving
footage of Serj with his grandfather that’s likely to reduce most to tears.
“I personally don't feel any responsibility for spreading the word about the
Armenian Genocide or any other topic to anyone, I merely speak out of my heart,”
says Serj of the band’s lifelong involvement. “Nor was it something specifically
discussed by System at our inception. The Armenian Genocide and its injustice is
an integral part of the personality of any Diasporan Armenian like the Holocaust
is for Jews. It's a negative that we need to make into a positive with justice
prevailing.”
“NEVER AGAIN!” is the soundbyte used when discussing genocide. But barbaric
ethnic-cleansing continues – in Iraq in the 80s, in Rwanda and Bosnia in the 90s
and in the Sudanese area of Darfur today (body count: 400,000 and counting).
And if you’re thinking ‘So what?’ to all of this, it’s worth bearing in mind
that one ‘Screamers’ interviewee, respected Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink, was brutally murdered in January 2007 for expressing the very same beliefs
as the band in the film.
“Hrant's murder really crushed me for a while,” says Tankian wistfully. “I had
seen him at the LA premiere of Screamers [in November 2006]. We chatted, took
some promo pictures. He jokingly called me a hero, and I laughed and told him
that it's easy to speak when no one's trying to kill you. You're the real hero I
told him, and he laughed.”
Meanwhile, post-SOAD the band are busying themselves with other projects:
Tankian’s debut solo album ‘Elect The Dead’
will be released late 2007, Odadjian recently debuted his new band
Achozen in LA, Malakian is working on new band
Scars Of Broadway and John Dolmayan is launching an online comic store,
Torpedo Comics.
But just because the band are currently on an extended hiatus, it doesn’t mean
they’re going to drop the cause that partly inspired them to form in the first
place. Beyond music it’s an on-going fight for the members of System Of A Down.
“There's a new resolution for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the
U.S. Congress now,” sighs Serj. “I just read a letter from Condoleezza Rice and
[US Secretary of Defense] Robert Gates to the House subcommittee looking at the
resolution. They're using the typical ‘national security and trade’ excuses to
deny the usage of the word genocide. The truth is sold for myopic, geopolitical,
short-term gain. What a great democracy, huh?”
‘Screamers’ screens on UK TV on BBC4 on March 28 [click
for the air times]. It will also be released on DVD in the summer. [you
can get your copy from Amazon.com] .
Words by Ben Myers. Article published on this month
Kerrang
magazine on sale now.
Ben is the Author of the System of a Down's "Right here in Hollywood" book,
you can find Ben Myers on myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/bigbenmyers
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