JD Vance's office deletes ‘genocide’ post during Armenia visit, cites staff error

US Vice President JD Vance’s office deleted a social media post on Tuesday that referred to the 1915 killings of Armenians as a “genocide”, touching off criticism from Armenian-American groups and others who saw the move as insensitive and politically fraught.

The deletion came during Vance’s official visit to Armenia, where he was at the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan.

The original post on Vance’s X account had described the visit as intended “to honour the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide.” But the message was later removed, and a spokesman for the vice president said it was shared in error by staff who are not part of the traveling delegation. “This is an account managed by staff that primarily exists to share photos and videos of the vice president’s activities,” the spokesperson said, adding that Vance himself did not use the word “genocide” in his own remarks.

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Turkey, a key Nato ally, rejects the characterisation of the 1915 Ottoman-era killings as genocide, and successive US administrations have often avoided the term, until recent years when Congress and former President Joe Biden formally recognised the massacres as a genocide.

But the Trump administration has steered clear of that language in official statements.

The deleted message came shortly after the White House also pulled another controversial social media post, a video from President Trump’s account that included a racist image of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. Trump later told reporters he had not watched the whole video before it was posted.

During his visit, Vance and his wife participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial, which honours the roughly 1.5 million Armenians who died in the Ottoman Empire’s final years.

The vice president’s trip is part of broader efforts by the US to deepen ties in the South Caucasus, including deals with Armenia and neighbouring Azerbaijan that the Trump administration says could help secure lasting peace in the region.