BOSTON — On April 27, the Armenian Heritage Park, on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, was the site of an outdoor commemoration of the 110th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
The event, hosted by Michael Demirchian, featured as keynote speaker international attorney Karnig Kerkonian.
Kerkonian spoke about the current litany of cases against Azerbaijan in world courts and centers of justice, all valid cases of human rights abuses by the military and leadership under the rule of the dictator of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. Azerbaijan holds an unknow number of Armenian Prisoners of War as well as the leadership of the Artsakh Republic, ethnically cleansed by Azerbaijan in September 2023.
Kerkonian emphasized also that the current Armenian government’s acts of appeasement to Azerbaijan since the loss of the 44-Day War in 2020, under the leadership of Prime Minister Nicol Pashinyan, is not the way to negotiate with a dictator like Aliyev. He said that unless the dictator has something to fear then more war should be expected. Azerbaijan already illegally has troops on Armenia’s territory strategically place near important Armenian national assets that could be snatched away instantly when war begins. Kerkonian said he believes that only prosecuting the cases against the Azerbaijani dictatorial regime and strengthening Armenian military defenses will war be prevented. He also expressed his disagreement with Armenia dropping all legal cases against Azerbaijan.
Newly appointed chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America George Aghjayan, and former co-chair of the Armenian Assembly of America Anthony Barsamian also spoke about the work being done by their organizations toward justice for the Armenian people and for the Armenian residents of Artsakh.
Armenian-Canadian singer–songwriter Zara, a senior at Berklee College of Music, performed several songs.
