The White House has deleted a social media post in which the vice president, JD Vancedenoted Armenian Genocideprompting outrage from members of the Armenian diaspora as well as opposition politicians across the US.
This post was made during Vance’s two-day visit Armenia Vance and his wife Usha Vance at a memorial to the 1.5 million Armenians killed by Ottoman forces a century ago. A now-deleted post on Vance’s official X account claimed he was visiting a memorial honoring “victims of the Armenian Genocide.”
This is the first time the Trump administration has used the term genocide to describe mass killings. Assistant to Vance Later he told reporters Crews who were not traveling with Vance mistakenly posted the message on social media.
This is the second time in the past week that the administration has cited a staffing error to explain its social media content; Last week, after Donald Trump tried to dismiss the riots by filming a racist video Barack and Michelle Obama As a monkey, the US president He said it was over A staff member made the wrong post.
Vance on Tuesday – the first sitting US vice president or president to visit the country – did not mention the word genocide in his remarks to reporters, describing the atrocities instead as “the most horrific thing that happened 100 years ago”. Vance said the visit was made at the behest of the Armenian government, saying it was a “mark of respect” for the victims and the local government.
Until recently, the US government avoided using the term genocide to describe the historical event, amid concerns about alienating Turkey, a key regional ally and NATO member. Turkey has long contested figures on how many Armenians were killed and denied that the killings were systematic.
This was the attitude Reversed by Joe Bidenin 2021 became the first US president to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. His statement, which highlighted the 1.5 million Armenians who were “deported, massacred or led to their deaths in a campaign of extermination”, reportedly led to a tense phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Trump administration Trump has since returned to an earlier stance after avoiding mentioning the term genocide in a statement on April Memorial Day last year.
This week, as news of the deleted post broke, members of the Armenian diaspora and opposition politicians reacted with outrage.
“Vance is a coward for deleting this post,” Alex Galitsky, policy director of the Armenian National Committee of America, a prominent advocacy group, wrote on social media. He described the deleted post as a “disgrace to the memory” of those who died and an “insult” to a community that has long struggled for recognition.
Aram Hamparian, director of the same organization, suggested that Ankara’s pressure was behind the incident. “No wonder Turkey is still looking to strong-arm world leaders to enforce the Armenian Genocide gag-rule,” he wrote on social media, adding: “Vice President Vance – a vocal voice of solidarity with Christian victims of persecution – has shown such weakness in the face of this foreign pressure that is deeply disturbing.”
The Armenian Assembly of America asked the administration to explain its position. “We deserve better from our elected officials and call for a public explanation for the apparent flip-flop,” co-chairs Talin Yacobian and Oscar Tatosian said. said in a statement.
The move prompted derision from several opposition lawmakers, including Congressman Jim McGovern, who described it as “disgusting and pathetic.” On social media, the Democratic spokesperson added: “The Armenian Genocide is real. I helped lead a bipartisan coalition calling for President Biden’s final US recognition in 2021. By deleting this post, @VP & @POTUS show they care more about the truth than their friends in power.”
