Thousands Rally In Times Square To Mark 100th Anniversary Of Massacre of Armenians
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A rally in Times Square is marking the centennial of the killings of as many 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire -- today's Turkey.
The rally that started early Sunday afternoon drew at least several thousand people. They're demanding that the U.S. government acknowledge the deaths during World War I as genocide.
The international dispute over the killings focuses on that one word: genocide -- and whether it was committed.
Pope Francis recently proclaimed the deaths a "genocide."
But Turkey denies the Ottoman authorities had attempted to exterminate Armenians. The Turkish government says Muslim Turks died as well as a result of inter-ethnic violence.
People were holding red, blue and orange Armenian flags in the air. Some people held pictures of their family that were killed.
One woman told WCBS 880's Monica Miller that her great grandmother told her stories about having to climb trees at night to hide from soldiers out of fear that she would be kidnapped or raped. While the story is horrifying, she believes it is an important to pass it down to her children, and she hopes they will pass it down to their grandchildren.
The New York rally is sponsored by the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of America.
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