System Of A Down perform in Armenia for the first time to mark genocide's 100th anniversary

The four Armenian-American band members have never performed together before in the country where their grandparents fled the genocide

Musicians Serj Tankian and Shavo Odadjian (R) of System of a Down perform onstage (Getty Images)

System Of A Down, who are all children of survivors of the Armenian genocide, will perform live in Armenia for the first time to mark the 100th anniversary of the atrocity.

The band will perform in Armenian’s capital Yerevan on 23 April to close their Wake Up The Souls Tour, a month-long world tour to commemorate the genocide, which saw the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks in 1915.

System Of A Down have been vocal about the Turkish government's refusal to recognise the massacre as a "genocide" for over 15 years, since their first recorded song appeared on a compilation album to raise awareness about the Armenian genocide in 1997.

The band have now called for their fans to stand with them and help raise awareness about the Turkish government’s denial of the genocide.

Launching their Wake Up The Souls Tour, lead singer Serj Tankian said: “For years we have commemorated [the Armenian genocide] by doing a solo show, so we decided to call this tour the Wake Up The Souls Tour.

“The important thing is justice – if someone killed my family and burned their house down and I’m running after them for a thousand years, for them to turn around and say sorry. I think you have to have incrimination, I think you have to have justice, courts involved etc - it’s got to be done the right way.”

He urged fans to “join us in bringing justice to this cause”.

Despite the band’s outspoken stance on the Turkish government’s denial, they have a strong fanbase in Turkey and hope to perform in the country soon.

Ottoman soldiers posing in front of Armenians they had hanged in public in Alep in 1915 (AFP/Getty Images)

Tankian told Rolling Stone that the band had been subject to a smear campaign by the Turkish media but that their Turkish fans had fought back against the false accusations.

“Our fans were the ones that protected us in Turkey. They wrote to the editors of those newspapers who were planning this misinformation, this disinformation, and fought for us. Our jaws dropped,” he said.

He added that the band have written to the Turkish government asking for permission to perform in the country but have yet to receive a response.

Turkey has refused to acknowledge the atrocity as a “genocide”, claiming the number of Armenian victims has been inflated and that massacres were committed by both sides.

The governments of 24 countries, including France, Italy, Russia and Canada recognise the events of 1915 as a “genocide”.

The British government does not, although the regional parliaments and assemblies of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland do.

Read more: Robert Fisk on the Armenian genocide: To continue to deny the truth is close to a criminal lie