It's Time to Recognize the Armenian Genocide | Opinion Knox Thames , Former State Department special advisor for religious minorities On 4/7/21 at 2:00 PM EDT History matters. It is time the United States calls the systematic murder of Armenians from 1915-23 a genocide. Doing so confirms the historical record and reaffirms the United States' commitment to those suffering from mass atrocities. April 24, the upcoming day remembering victims, provides President Joe Biden the right moment to set the historical record straight. The history is sound. Based in present-day Turkey, the Ottoman Empire undertook a mass campaign of murder against Armenians, as well as Assyrians and Greeks, starting on April 24, 1915, running for eight years. Historians estimate 1.5 million Armenians died. It was no secret either.