System Of A Down vs Turkish atrocity

System Of A Down has announced that it will headline the fourth annual Souls benefit concert, on April 23rd at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. As with the three previous Souls concerts, this year's event will help raise awareness of the genocide that claimed the lives of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923 at the hands of Turkey's Ottoman Empire during World War I, in which all four members of System Of A Down lost family members. April 24th marks the 91st anniversary of the genocide's commencement.

Turkey has consistently refused to acknowledge the genocide, but System Of A Down singer Serj Tankian told us that this kind of tragedy should not be forgotten: "I don't know how it's gonna end up settling up. But I do know that any time that there's an injustice, any time that there's a truth that needs to come out, it needs to come out. Otherwise it affects other things. There's genocides going on right now in Darfur and different parts of the world. I mean, we obviously as a human species have not learned our lessons."

Pre-sale tickets for the benefit will go on sale Thursday (March 9th) through systemofadown.com, with the rest of the tickets becoming available to the public on Saturday (March 11th).

This will be System Of A Down's first live performance since last summer. The band is heavily rumored to be headlining OzzFest this year.

The U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee overwhelmingly approved legislation recognizing the Armenian Genocide last September, despite objections from both Turkey and the Bush Administration. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert has twice prevented the legislation from coming to a vote in the full U.S. House.