SYSTEM OF A DOWN frontman Serj Tankia, is requesting that IMAGINE DRAGONS reconsider their planned concert in Azerbaijan, citing the country’s purported humanitarian crisis as a reason. After initially privately contacting the band, Tankian has now shared the letter he sent, demanding the show’s cancellation.
A long-time critic of Azerbaijan, Tankian, and his band, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, have consistently raised their voices against the nation’s alleged human rights abuses. In fact, to highlight the alleged atrocities, the band released their first new tracks in 15 years in 2020.
In a new post on Instagram, Tankian elaborates on his motivations for urging IMAGINE DRAGONS to cancel their concert and expresses his disappointment over not receiving a response.
His full post can be read below:
“Now it has to be said.
A few months ago, it came to my attention that @imaginedragons had planned a show on Sept 2nd in Baku Azerbaijan. I was sure they were unaware that Azerbaijan’s petro-oligarchic dictatorial regime was starving 120k people in Nagorno-Karabagh which is now being called a Genocide by the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo. So through representatives, I sent them a kind letter urging them to reconsider playing their show in Azerbaijan as it would help whitewash the dictatorial regime’s image there. I included various articles including one by Amnesty Int’l who I was told they have worked with in the past. There was no response. No answer, no response. As the humanitarian crisis worsens in Nagorno-Karabagh with starvation already being recorded I am forced to publicize this letter and their disregard for this humanitarian catastrophe. Maybe they felt they had a legal liability to play the show, maybe they just don’t care. My whole life I have been an advocate for genocide recognition and have always said there has to be a price to pay for Genocidal regimes or deniers. Another genocide is looming by Azerbaijan and while this happens they get to enjoy an American band from LV. F**k that!
That’s not right.
Go to my profile to sign a petition to the band on change.org if you care to sign and you can see my letter to the band on my Facebook page. Thanks for reading. Serj.”
At the time of this writing IMAGINE DRAGONS‘ concert in Baku, Azerbaijan scheduled for September 2nd is still slated to take place.
