By Kevin Lamarck and Trevor Hunnicutt
YEREVAN, Feb 10 (Reuters) – The White House on Tuesday deleted a social media post from Vice President J.D. Vance’s account calling the massacre of Armenians a “genocide,” a message that contradicted the stance of U.S. ally Turkey, which was posted in error.
Vance, who is on a two-day visit to Armenia, visited the Tsitsernakabard Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan during the first visit by a US vice president to the South Caucasus republic.
Vance and his wife Usha attended a ceremony to lay wreaths of carnations, chrysanthemums and roses at the site honoring the 1.5 million Armenians who died during the final years of the Turkish-led Ottoman Empire.
Vance’s official account at X later described the visit as “to honor the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.”
After that post was deleted, a Vance associate, who declined to be named, said the message was mistakenly posted by employees who were not part of the travel delegation.
“This is a staff-managed account that exists primarily to share photos and videos of the vice president’s activities,” a Vance spokeswoman said, adding that her views were best described by her own comments to reporters. In those comments, Vance did not use the word “genocide.”
Trump’s relationship with Turkey
Turkey acknowledges that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War I, but disputes the statistics and denies that the killings were organized and constituted genocide.
Both the US Congress and Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, have recognized the 1915 massacre as a genocide, but Trump avoided that language in his statement about the massacre last year.
Turkey is a NATO ally of the United States and President Tayyip Erdogan has maintained close ties with President Donald Trump, supporting the US diplomatic initiative in Gaza.
Turkey’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
The White House said there was “no change in policy at this time” following Trump’s 2025 statement on the historic event, which did not include the word “genocide”.
Spokeswoman Carolyn Levitt, asked if there was a widespread problem with the White House’s social media protocol, said, “No.”
Last week, the White House defended and then removed a post on Trump’s Truth social account that depicted former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as monkeys.
Trump later told reporters that he had not watched the entire video before the White House aide posted it on his account.
In Armenia, Vance signed an agreement with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan that could pave the way for the U.S. to build a nuclear power plant there.
Asked by a reporter if his visit to the memorial was to recognize the massacre, Vance said: “Obviously, it’s a very horrible thing that happened a little over 100 years ago, and culturally it was very important to them.
“So I thought as a sign of respect, both for the victims, but also for the Armenian government that has been a very important partner for us in the region, to Prime Minister Pashinyan, I would like to go and meet and pay my respects.”
Vance’s visit was intended to promote the Trump administration’s agreement with Armenia and Azerbaijan to broker peace after nearly 40 years of war between the Caucasus rivals. Trump has touted those diplomatic efforts as key achievements of his tenure.
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 is a key power broker.
(Reporting by Kevin Lamarck in Yerevan, Armenia and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumruku in Ankara; Editing by Colin Jenkins, Mark Heinrich and Edmund Claman)
