US Vice President Vance's office deletes post about 'Armenian genocide'

(Patria) - The White House on Tuesday deleted a social media post from Vice President J.D. Vance's profile commemorating the massacres of Armenians as "genocide," saying the message, which contradicts Turkey's stance on the issue, an ally of the United States, was posted in error, Reuters reported.

Vance, who was on a two-day trip to Armenia, visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Tsitsernakaberd in Yerevan during the first visit of a US Vice President to the South Caucasus republic.

Vance and his wife Usha participated in a ceremonial laying of a wreath of carnations, chrysanthemums, and roses at the site, which honors the 1.5 million Armenians killed in the final years of the Ottoman Empire under Turkish leadership.

Vance's official social media profile on X later described the visit as an intention to "honor the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide."

After the post was deleted, a Vance aide who wished to remain anonymous said the message was mistakenly posted by staff who were not part of the traveling delegation.

"This is a staff-run profile that primarily exists to share photos and videos of the Vice President's activities," Vance's spokesperson said, adding that his views are best described by his own statements to reporters. In those statements, Vance did not use the word "genocide."

Trump's ties to Turkey

Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War I, but disputes the numbers and denies that the killings were systematically orchestrated and constituted genocide.

Although the US Congress and Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, have recognized the 1915 massacres as genocide, Trump avoided that language in his statement on the killings last year.

Turkey is a NATO ally of the United States, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan maintains close ties with President Donald Trump, including support for a US diplomatic initiative on Gaza.

The White House stated that "there has been no change in policy at this time" from Trump's 2025 statement on the historical incident, which did not include the word "genocide."

Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, when asked if the White House had a broader problem with its social media protocols, said "no."

In Armenia, Vance signed an agreement with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan that could pave the way for the US to build a nuclear power plant there.

When asked by reporters if his visit to the memorial was intended to acknowledge genocide, Vance said: "Obviously, it's a very terrible thing that happened a little over a hundred years ago and something that was very, very important culturally to them. So, I thought out of respect, both for the victims, but also for the Armenian government, which has been a very important partner for us in the region, I wanted to go and visit Prime Minister Pashinyan and pay my respects."

Vance's visit was aimed at promoting agreements reached by the Trump administration with Armenia and Azerbaijan to build peace after nearly forty years of war between the Caucasus rivals. Trump presented these diplomatic efforts as one of the main achievements of his term.

On Tuesday, Vance traveled to Azerbaijan and signed a strategic partnership agreement covering economic and security cooperation, as Washington seeks to expand its influence in a region where Russia was once the primary power broker.