On the eve of April 24, Serj Tankian leader of the famous American band System of a Down has sent a message to the Turkish people in the magazine Agos, Turkish, Armenian and English.
Dear People of Turkey
My name is Serj Tankian. I am Lebanese, born New Zealand American Armenian.
My four grandparents came from the area now called Turkey.
My grandfather Stepan had Efkere Kayseri, while my grandmother had Varsenig Tokat. My other grandparents came from Dortiol and Urfa. None of them had left voluntarily.
They were survivors of the horrible genocide committed by the Ittihad government in the last days of the Ottoman Empire.
They were all children at that time. My grandfather Stepan was collected and raised in an American orphanage and in a Greek orphanage before coming to Lebanon as a refugee. My grandmother Varsenig and her grandmother were rescued from slaughter by a Turkish mayor who was risking his life, which seemed fair.
These are some stories that are in the Turkish archives and those of other nations. These are true stories of my family.
There are more than 600 years, the area where my grandparents came was called historic Armenia. When anthropologists dig in Turkey, they are the remains of our civilization, those of the Greeks and other civilizations.
Turkey is important for me, not only because my grandparents came from, but because my whole tribe comes from these lands that have been taken by force, not by war or by a redrawing of borders, but by brutal orders of the Government of Ittihad.
What does this mean for us today? It is quite simple. Armenians do not want to create problems for Turkey, or are creating ethnic divisions, we simply want justice in order to get us out of all this pain that distorts our historical relations. It is not only the history of Armenians, it is also the history of Turkey.
The Erdogan government will he do what is in reconciliation with all this? I do not think so. No more than will the military junta that was in power in Turkey throughout the modern era.
Did you know that your government spends millions of dollars every year in foreign capitals to deny this truth are committing all sorts of pressure groups and creating university chairs to reinvent the truth in his own way? Do you know what it is to feel an Armenian? What is this painful experience? Be the grand-son of survivors of a horrible tragedy in the history not enough? Should my competing propaganda and corruption over the border to get justice?
The swirl that shook Turkey today to find itself relate to us, the Armenians. It is impossible to leave these problems without solution: our stories, and our respective geographies bloods are too close.
Armenians and Turks deserve foremost leaders and governments that are truly egalitarian, democratic and uncorrupted.
In closing, I just want to say thank you to each of you, citizens of this amazing Turkish people I met who told me their stories on tour or online, and that gave me hope for a reconciliation based on truth and justice.
My hope, Dear People of Turkey, is that you find yourself.
On the occasion of April 24,
Peace,
Serj
Gilbert Béguian translation Armenews.com