The White House has deleted a social media post in which Vice-President JD Vance referred to the Armenian genocide, prompting anger from members of the Armenian diaspora and opposition politicians across the United States.
The post on Vance's official X account, made during his two-day trip to Armenia, said he was visiting a memorial to honour "the victims of the Armenian genocide". It was the first time the Trump administration had used the word genocide to describe the massacres of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman troops. An aide later said the message had been posted in error by staff who were not travelling with Vance. Speaking to reporters, Vance avoided the term, calling the atrocities "a very terrible thing that happened a little over 100 years ago".
The deletion was the second time in a week the administration had attributed social media content to staff error, after President Donald Trump sought to dismiss an uproar over a racist video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. The United States previously refrained from using the word genocide to avoid alienating Turkey, a key Nato ally, but President Joe Biden formally recognised the Armenian genocide in 2021. The Trump administration has since returned to the earlier stance, with Trump avoiding the word in a remembrance statement last year.
Alex Galitsky, policy director for the Armenian National Committee of America, wrote that Vance was "a coward" for deleting the post, describing the deletion as an "insult to the memory" of the victims and "an affront" to the community. Aram Hamparian, the organisation's director, suggested pressure from Ankara was behind the incident. The Armenian Assembly of America called for a public explanation, while Democratic congressman Jim McGovern called the move "disgusting and pathetic", adding that the Armenian Genocide is a fact and accusing the administration of caring more about its "authoritarian buddies" than the truth.
