Armenians around the world, including in the United States, hold special commemorations each year to honor the victims.
In Yerevan, tens of thousands of people are visiting the city's Genocide Memorial. In Tbilisi, several dozen Georgian Armenians demonstrated outside the Turkish Embassy to demand that Turkey recognize the massacre as genocide.
While more than 20 countries now officially describe the killings as genocide, the present-day Turkish government rejects use of the term genocide, saying the deaths were the result of the turmoil of war. It puts the number of dead at several hundred thousand, with most dying from hunger and illness when they were deported to another part of the empire.
(with additional material from ITAR-TASS)