GENOCIDE VICTIMS WILL BE HONORED GREEK THEATRE CONCERT SET.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - For the rock band System of a Down, tonight's sold-out benefit at the Greek Theatre will be a different kind of concert - one dedicated to raising awareness about the Armenian Genocide.

The band's members, all of Armenian descent, are performing on the day on which Armenians commemorate the genocide, which occurred in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923. Lead singer Serj Tankian said the title of the concert ``Souls, 2004,'' will honor the 1.5 million Armenians who were killed in the massacre.

``The reason I'm here is because of the survivors that have survived the Armenian Genocide,'' Tankian said.

The singer's grandfather saw his own brother killed, and he and his mother were the only members of his family to survived the genocide.

Armenians during the period suffered deportation, torture, starvation and numerous massacres, according to the Armenian National Institute.

It set the stage for other atrocities that followed, Tankian said.

``Look at the 20th century. It's the century where the most number of people have been killed by (other) people. And we call ourselves a civilization?''

Turkish officials have denied that the deaths of Armenians in the former Ottoman Empire during World War I and the following years was a genocide, saying the deaths occurred during a multiparty conflict and were due to war and disease. But Armenian groups have asked the Turkish government to recognize the deaths as a genocide.

Tonight's concert will benefit the Armenian National Committee of America and other groups, including organizations that teach about the genocide, such as Facing History and Ourselves.

Tankian, 36, and two of his fellow members of the band grew up in the San Fernando Valley, and the fourth member is from Glendale. All four now live in the Los Angeles area.

Those attending tonight's concert, which sold out in less than 20 minutes on March 12, will find booths with materials about the Armenian Genocide, and will get an informational CD booklet-size handout.

``We don't want to be preachy. We have an eight-minute documentary explaining the genocide and its cover-up by Turkey, and geopolitical realities in the West,'' Tankian said.

Tankian expressed support for a Canadian House of Commons vote on Wednesday night to declare the deaths of the 1.5 million Armenians an act of genocide. The vote could affect trade relations between Canada and Turkey.

Armenian groups are urging the U.S. government to take a similar stance.

``Unless we want to continue being a hypocritical democracy, it's going to have to be. The ball is rolling and people are starting to become aware of it,'' Tankian said.

In support of two resolutions that mention the Armenian Genocide, along with the Holocaust and genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda, System of a Down has mobilized tens of thousands of fans and supporters to send postcards and e-mails to congressional leaders urging passage of the resolutions in the House and Senate.

The resolutions state that the U.S. government and its people should rededicate themselves to the cause of ending the crime of genocide.

But Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, one of the co-signors of House Resolution 193, said although it would win approval if put before the full House, the House majority leadership is blocking the vote.

Armenians observe April 24 as the day to commemorate the genocide because it was on that day in 1915 that hundreds of Armenian leaders were arrested in Constantinople in one of the first acts of the genocide.

State Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, has authored a resolution which designates this day as the ``California Day of Remembrance for the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923.''

``It's one of the great tragic events of the 20th century, and it's the first genocide of the 20th century,'' Scott said.

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com