Twenty-one countries have officially recognized the mass murder and deportation of Armenians perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire as genocide. Forty-three out of fifty states in the United States have recognized it as genocide. It is time for us to recognize it as a nation.
In the past, President Ronald Reagan referred to the events as genocide, as has President Barack Obama.
Deaths have been estimated anywhere from 600,000 to 1,800,000. Our fear of damage to diplomatic relations should not cause us to pretend these events did not occur, or that they occurred to a lesser degree.
Turkey claims the the deaths were not a result of willful extermination of Armenians, and simply the consequences of war. This is a ridiculous assertion, and it is time that we, united as a nation, say so.