Karnig Kerkonian, Esq. Keynote | Capitol Hill Armenian Genocide Commemoration 2026

International human rights lawyer Karnig Kerkonian, Esq. delivers the keynote address at the Armenian National Committee of America's Capitol Hill Armenian Genocide Commemoration, titled "Armenian Genocide: From Remembrance to Responsibility." Drawing on his grandfather's firsthand witness to the deportations of 1915 — sewing leather pouches for water as thousands of Armenians were herded through Aintab to the Syrian desert — Kerkonian frames the Armenian Genocide not as a historical episode, but as an ongoing genocidal process that runs from the Hamidian Massacres through the 2023 ethnic cleansing of Artsakh and continues to this day. Kerkonian examines Aliyev's and Erdogan's own public statements as evidence of a deliberate, continuing campaign against the Armenian people; exposes the TRIPP corridor as a geostrategic instrument designed to deny Armenia's sovereignty; and warns that appeasement — in every form — only emboldens the next stage of that process. His central argument: the right of return for the displaced Armenians of Artsakh is not simply a humanitarian demand. It is an essential act of resistance against the genocidal march — and forfeiting it clears the way for the loss of Syunik, and beyond. "Genocide continues where it meets no resistance. And, if we are to be anything at all, we, together, must be that resistance." Read the full ANCA press release on the event: https://anca.org/press-release/bipart... Learn more about ANCA's advocacy: anca.org