Eighty-seven years ago today, Armenian teachers, clergy, businessmen, writers and doctors were rounded up and killed. The events of April 24, 1915, set the stage for the first genocide of the 20th century, the extermination of more than 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

The legacy of the Armenian Genocide is woven into the fabric of America. With one of the largest Armenian expatriate communities in the world, April 24 has become an integral part of America's history. You might imagine that after the passage of so much time, and with the presence of so many Americans of Armenian origin, U.S. recognition of the events of April 24 and the genocide that followed would be routine and non-controversial. Instead, debate over the Armenian Genocide has been an annual and bitter conflict.

Even though modern-day Turkey was established in 1923 out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire and was not the actual perpetrator of genocide, it spends millions of dollars each year on the best lobbyists, engages sympathetic allies on its behalf, and routinely threatens to sever diplomatic, military and economic ties with the United States any time the Armenian Genocide is brought up. Instead of acknowledging this dark chapter of Ottoman history, Turkey has chosen to wage a war of disinformation, revision and outright denial.

Despite this concerted effort, there is no serious academic dispute about the Armenian Genocide. Some of the most notable Holocaust and Genocide scholars, including Israel Charny, Deborah Lipstadt and Robert Jay Lifton, have affirmed the facts. International law scholar Raphael Lemkin, who coined the word genocide in 1943, cited the Armenian case as an example.

Our own National Archives houses diplomatic dispatches from U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau and Consul Leslie Davis to the State Department, vividly describing the systematic destruction of an entire people. News accounts from the American press, most notably The New York Times, provide another trove of primary source evidence.

Because of Turkey's important strategic role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, America has been reluctant to speak out. But U.S.-Turkish relations are strong and can survive our recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Just look at French-Turkish relations following the French Parliament's recognition of the genocide in 2000. Immediately, Turkey recalled its ambassador in Paris and threatened to cancel defense contracts. According to the Turkish press, the relationship was back on track not much later, with political, economic and military ties intact.

Some argue that recognition of the genocide has become even more problematic now, when the world is at war with terrorism and the United States cannot afford to offend the sensibility of our Turkish ally. In fact, the converse is true: At a time when the United States has been called on for a level of moral leadership, vision and inspiration not seen since World War II, we cannot afford to dissemble about crimes against humanity.

Euphemisms, vague terminology or calls for discussions with Turkey to get at the truth are just some of the dodges Congress and the administration have used to avoid Turkish discomfort with its Ottoman past. What is there to discuss with Turkey about the Armenian Genocide? What facts are there left to discover? What is to be gained by referring to the systematic slaughter of an entire people without using the word most appropriate for those grotesque circumstances?

The short answer is that there is nothing to discuss, nothing to discover, nothing to be gained by denial - and much to be lost. The United States is fighting an unconventional enemy in the war on terrorism, one against whom our overwhelming military might provides only one necessary weapon.

Winning the war on terrorism will also require a level of moral clarity that can provide a vision for struggling people and nations everywhere. Only military force accompanied by an equally strong moral force will provide the essential combination to rout out terrorism and prevent its reemergence.

So let us call genocide, genocide. Let us not minimize the deliberate murder of 1.5 million people. Let us have a moral victory that can shine as a light to all nations.