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Thousands of people packed Times Square on Sunday to demand the U.S. government recognize the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians during World War I as genocide, NBC New York reports.

"It's humanity's issue. It's not just about Armenian people; history continues to repeat itself," said Nancy Guetssoyan, 28, of Weehawken, New Jersey. "The U.S. government has not declared it a genocide because they're allies with Turkey."

Ethnic Armenians living in the United States are pushing for a formal vote in Congress that would classify the killings as genocide.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, spoke to the crowd on Sunday, saying, "I stand with you in making sure the deniers are not given any place under the sun."

Rally speakers included several Jewish leaders as well as Taner Akcam, a Turkish-born scholar who supports the Armenian cause as a professor at Clark University, in Worcester, Massachusetts.

"It is very troubling to see that the United States has still not recognized the Armenian genocide," he said, adding that the justification is the crucial role of Turkey in U.S. security strategy.

The New York rally was sponsored by the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of America.