Don't Ya' Just Love Insurance Companies?

CNN.com is reporting that New York Life is finally settling life insurance claims made by survivors of the Armenian genocide that took place in Turkey in 1915.

Of more interest than the settlement itself (insurance company business as usual, it seems) is the subject of the genocide itself. I recently saw the film Ararat, written and directed by Canadian-Armenian director Atom Egoyan. It is the first major film to deal with the genocide, which killed an estimated 1.5 million people. The film itself asks broader questions of remembering and believing and confronting the past (the Turks continue to downplay the extent of the genocide or deny it altogether) that are very thought provoking. You really need to see it at least twice, preferably with the director's commentary, to wrap your head around it. If you've got a weekend, it's well worth the investment.

Digging into some research on the subject, I was somewhat pleased (if one can use that word in this context) that the United States was one of the few countries to truly reach out to assist the Armenians at the time. Probably helped that in 1915 we had yet to enter the First World War and were therefore a neutral nation. And while the CNN article maintains that the US has not "recognized" the genocide, I did come across a quote from a speech by Ronald Reagan (of all people) recognizing it.