For years Ankara has done everything in its power to limit the success of genocide recognition campaigns around the world, primarily with its use of carrot and stick techniques, System of a Down lead vocalist wrote in an article published by New Europe.

“The Armenian Genocide – an umbrella term for the 1915 massacres of Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians by the Ottoman Empire – has for decades been used by Turkey as political capital against well-known democracies around the world,” he noted. “The result has been an absolute disaster, hindering Turkish democracy, and helping to silence all those struggling for an egalitarian, secular state there.”

According to Tankian, Turkish recent invasion of Syria has directly targeted the area’s Kurds, Armenians, and other communities and “explicitly showed the true face of an unpunished killer.”

“Armenians around the world were devastated to witness Turkey’s bombing of Kurdish forces and civilians in Syria. It was like experiencing PTSD from a 100+-year-old genocide. The YPG/Kurdish-American alliance was destroyed overnight after US President Donald Trump’s call with Erdogan.”

As Tnakian noted, most of his friends are shocked that Israel has also never formally recognised the genocide.

“Irrespective of the bad diplomatic blood between Turkey and Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has blocked all such efforts to recognise the Armenian Genocide due to the intelligence sharing that Israel has with Turkey and, until now, the US’ official stance on genocide recognition,” he said.

According to him, Israel should have been the first state to pass a resolution that gave official recognition to the Armenian genocide.

“The Armenian Genocide should serve as an important historical lesson to all. Unpunished crimes against humanity that are ignored for economic or political gain by the international community will eventually lead to global disorder,” Tankian concluded.