System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian says a political solution must be found to eradicate genocide across the world.
He wrote the soundtrack to last year’s film 1915 - which commemorated the centennial anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
And he says despite the lessons learned from World War Two, ethnic groups are still being wiped out – and it’s time world powers came together to eradicate mass slaughter.
He tells AltPress: “The perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide were the Ottoman Empire, whose descendants are the modern Turkish Republic. On top of our grandparents’ bones in the desert in Syria are the new bones of the Yazidis, Syrians and others being murdered by ISIS. It’s more than just irony – it’s fucking political reality.
“It’s basically saying we haven’t stopped genocide from occurring in the world. Irrespective of the Nuremberg Trials and everything we learned from World War Two, we’ve had Stalin, Cambodia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Indonesia – and it’s still happening now.”
Tankian says that genocide will continue for as long as profit takes precedence over people and adds: “Because there’s no agreement between China, Russia, the US or any powerful country in the world where if genocide is occurring, then all bets are off, whether they’re an ally or not. There is no multilateral action making genocide a priority. That’s why it’s still happening.”
As for future work for the singer, he reports he has various projects to mull over. “I’m looking at different options in scoring between video games and films,” he says. “I’m also writing some new rock songs. We’ll see where they go and what happens with them.”
The soundtrack to 1915 was released today (April 22) and is available via Tankian’s official website.
