On Tuesday, the White House deleted a social media post from U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s account that observed the massacres of Armenians as a “genocide.” A statement was put out saying the message—which directly contradicts their U.S.-allied Turkey stance—was an ‘error’.
Vance, in his two-day trip to Armenia, had visited the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial in the capital city of Yerevan. This was the first visit by a U.S. Vice President to the country.
Trump Maintains Pro-Turkey Language
Vance’s visit to Armenia was to sign a deal with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan that would allow the U.S. to possibly build a nuclear power plant in the country.
According to the post on X from Vance’s official account, the visit was intended to “honour the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide,” after which the post was deleted. A Vance aide said that the message was posted by a staff member who was not part of the travelling delegation and made the error.
When asked by a reporter whether his visit to the memorial was intended to recognise the genocide, Vance responded, “Obviously, it’s a very terrible thing that happened little over 100 years ago, and something that was just very, very important to them culturally.
“So, I thought out of a sign of respect, both for the victims, but also for the Armenian government that’s been a very important partner for us in the region, to Prime Minister Pashinyan, I wanted to go and pay a visit and pay my respects,” he said.
Turkey accepts that many Armenians were killed in clashes with the Ottoman Empire during World War I; however, they contest the numbers and maintain that no organised systemic killings took place, and therefore it does not constitute a genocide.
While previous U.S. Presidents, including Joe Biden, have recognised the 1915 massacre as a genocide, Trump has avoided using such language in any of his own statements regarding the killings.
Second Controversial Post In Just Days
The White House’s damage control in this instance has drawn severe criticism from both Democratic lawmakers and members of the Armenian population in the United States.
“Vance is a coward for deleting this post,” said Alex Galitsky, policy director for the Armenian National Committee of America on X, adding that it was an “insult to the memory” of those who had died.
This incident is the second social media post deleted by the White House within days. Just last week, the Trump Administration deleted a controversial post on Truth Social about former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama that made a racist depiction of both as apes. Trump later claimed to have not watched the video before it was posted by a White House aide to his account.
(With inputs from Reuters)
