Armenians seek a voice
The Courier News
By Matthew DeFour
STAFF WRITER
BATAVIA — Politics in music haven't changed much since the days when Neil Young lamented "four dead in Ohio," but politics in practice have.
Heavy metal rockers System of a Down headlined a political rally at noon Tuesday outside U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert's Batavia office to bring awareness to the slaughter of thousands of Armenians by the Turks in the 1920s.
[...]
Lead singer Serj Tankian, whose grandfather survived the massacres, delivered a personal letter asking the speaker to call for a House vote on two controversial resolutions that would recognize the massacres as genocide.
"By allowing this vote, and allowing the will of Congress to be freely expressed, you will be doing the right thing morally and, at the same time, encouraging Turkey to deal honestly with its past and more openly with its future," Tankian read through a megaphone to a crowd of about 125 people, including elderly Armenian descendants of the survivors and young fans who will see the band perform Friday at Allstate Arena in Rosemont.
Tankian handed a copy of the letter across a police line to a sergeant who took it inside to Hastert's office. Hastert himself was in Washington and unable to make an appearance, but a spokesman said the speaker was attentive to the demonstrators' concerns.
"He's allowing the House to move through the process and — he's listening to different viewpoints," spokesman Brad Hahn said. "As a speaker he has an obligation to build consensus."
[...]
Demonstrators emphasized that Hastert promised the Armenian community in August 2000 that he would allow the House to vote on a resolution, but since then he has had two opportunities to do so without result.
In October 2000 and July 2003, separate House committees passed resolutions that would have recognized as genocide the murders committed by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. Neither resolution was scheduled for a House vote before the end of the term.
Hastert has said that both the Clinton and Bush administrations have opposed the resolutions because of an alliance with Turkey.
[...]
Most of the demonstrators arrived by bus from Glenview and other Chicago suburbs, although some came from as far away as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Indiana.
They brandished signs that read "You can't rewrite history" and chanted "You can't buy the truth."
Read between the lines, that last chant could have been a reference to a recent Vanity Fair magazine article in which a translator alleged that Hastert had received campaign contributions from Turkish officials to stymie the House vote in 2000. But aside from murmurs in the crowd, organizers never mentioned the article or allegations in their speeches or as part of the program.
"I think that speaks to the validity of the Vanity Fair report," said Hahn, who reiterated Hastert's position that the article had no credence.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
By Matthew DeFour
STAFF WRITER
BATAVIA — Politics in music haven't changed much since the days when Neil Young lamented "four dead in Ohio," but politics in practice have.
Heavy metal rockers System of a Down headlined a political rally at noon Tuesday outside U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert's Batavia office to bring awareness to the slaughter of thousands of Armenians by the Turks in the 1920s.
[...]
Lead singer Serj Tankian, whose grandfather survived the massacres, delivered a personal letter asking the speaker to call for a House vote on two controversial resolutions that would recognize the massacres as genocide.
"By allowing this vote, and allowing the will of Congress to be freely expressed, you will be doing the right thing morally and, at the same time, encouraging Turkey to deal honestly with its past and more openly with its future," Tankian read through a megaphone to a crowd of about 125 people, including elderly Armenian descendants of the survivors and young fans who will see the band perform Friday at Allstate Arena in Rosemont.
Tankian handed a copy of the letter across a police line to a sergeant who took it inside to Hastert's office. Hastert himself was in Washington and unable to make an appearance, but a spokesman said the speaker was attentive to the demonstrators' concerns.
"He's allowing the House to move through the process and — he's listening to different viewpoints," spokesman Brad Hahn said. "As a speaker he has an obligation to build consensus."
[...]
Demonstrators emphasized that Hastert promised the Armenian community in August 2000 that he would allow the House to vote on a resolution, but since then he has had two opportunities to do so without result.
In October 2000 and July 2003, separate House committees passed resolutions that would have recognized as genocide the murders committed by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. Neither resolution was scheduled for a House vote before the end of the term.
Hastert has said that both the Clinton and Bush administrations have opposed the resolutions because of an alliance with Turkey.
[...]
Most of the demonstrators arrived by bus from Glenview and other Chicago suburbs, although some came from as far away as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Indiana.
They brandished signs that read "You can't rewrite history" and chanted "You can't buy the truth."
Read between the lines, that last chant could have been a reference to a recent Vanity Fair magazine article in which a translator alleged that Hastert had received campaign contributions from Turkish officials to stymie the House vote in 2000. But aside from murmurs in the crowd, organizers never mentioned the article or allegations in their speeches or as part of the program.
"I think that speaks to the validity of the Vanity Fair report," said Hahn, who reiterated Hastert's position that the article had no credence.
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 8:34 AM
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