NEW YORK — A rally in Times Square is marking the centennial of the deaths of as many 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire — today's Turkey.
Sunday afternoon's rally drew several thousand people demanding the U.S. government deem the deaths during World War I genocide.
The international dispute over the killings focuses on that one word.
Pope Francis recently labeled the deaths genocide, a view widely shared by scholars. Turkey however denies that the deaths constituted genocide. They say the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.
The New York rally is sponsored by the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of America.