US Vice President JD Vance’s team posted and then deleted a message on social media about the Republican’s visit to a memorial honoring early 20th century Armenians killed by the Ottoman Empire.
At issue was the post’s use of the term “Armenian genocide,” a name the US government has historically not used for what happened, with the notable exception of the Biden administration. The White House blamed a staff error.
Here are some questions and answers about what that means, what Vance himself did and didn’t say, and why it matters.
What did Vance go to see in Armenia?
Vance visited a site called the Armenian Genocide Monument, Armenia’s official national monument, remembering its citizens who died under the brutal control of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
The initial post on Vance X’s official account stated that he was visiting the memorial “to honor the victims of the Armenian genocide.” This was replaced by a second post that showed what he wrote in the guest book as well as a clip of the vice president and Usha Vance laying flowers at the memorial.
Vance, the first US vice president to visit Armenia, was in the country as part of the Trump administration’s follow-up to a US-brokered deal aimed at ending a decades-old conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, where Vance traveled later Tuesday.
Why is word choice important?
“Genocide” is a broad and legally distinct term that national governments, international bodies and media organizations use carefully.
The United Nations in 1948 defined genocide “to mean certain acts, enumerated in Article II, committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such,” according to the longstanding understanding of the US State Department.
There is no doubt that many thousands of Armenian citizens, most of them Christians, died at the direction of the Committee of Union and Progress that led the Muslim government in Constantinople, today the Turkish capital of Istanbul.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates that “at least 664,000 and possibly as many as 1.2 million” died.
But the American government has historically not recognized what happened as “genocide” because of the fear of alienating Turkey, the main ally of the United States in the region. In 2021, then-President Joe Biden formally acknowledged that the systematic killing and deportations of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the forces of the Ottoman Empire were part of “genocide.”
Turkey reacted with fury at the time. The Minister for Foreign Affairs said that his country “will not be given lessons about our history from anyone.”
People of Armenian descent commemorate the victims with memorials and an annual day of remembrance observed around the world, including in the United States
What did Vance himself say?
Vance was asked specifically on Tuesday about his visit to the memorial and whether he was “acknowledging” the genocide.
He avoided using the word and said he went to “pay respects” at the invitation of his host, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and his government.
“They said this is a very important site for us, and of course I’m the first vice president (of the United States) to ever visit Armenia,” Vance said. “They asked us to visit the site. Obviously, it’s a very terrible thing that happened a little over a hundred years ago and something that is very important and important to them culturally.”
Vance added that it was “a sign of respect, both for the victims but also for the Armenian government which has been a very important partner for us in the region.”
What did the White House say?
The White House blamed the original post on a staff member. It’s the second time in less than a week that the West Wing has blamed an unnamed aide for a controversy over a social media post. Last Friday, Trump shared a racist video on his Truth Social account that depicted former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as jungle primates.
The White House defended that post initially before deleting it after a cascade of criticism.
What happens next?
It is not yet clear whether there will be any diplomatic consequences. Vance, for his part, seemed determined to keep the focus on the original mission of his trip.
“I think the president has reached a great peace deal. I think the administration is really making it stick,” Vance said.
Still, there is the political question of whether Armenian Americans will react, with the rhetorical boomerang offering another reminder of how reluctant the United States has been to use the word “genocide” to describe what Armenians remember in this way. ___ White House reporter Michelle Price contributed reporting from Baku, Azerbaijan.