US Congressmen criticize Vance for deleting a post recognizing  Armenian Genocide 

ArmInfo.  US Congressmen  have criticized US Vice President J.D. Vance for  deleting a post on his Twitter account (X) regarding a visit to the  Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial.

Thus, Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi stated that when she visited  Armenia as Speaker of the US House of Representatives in 2022, her  congressional delegation stood at Tsitsernakaberd and spoke clearly  and unapologetically about the Armenian Genocide - because truth  matters. "That truth was affirmed when the House overwhelmingly  passed a bipartisan resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide in  2019, and when President Biden showed moral leadership by formally  recognizing it in 2021-a position shamefully reversed by the Trump  administration. It is deeply disappointing, though not surprising,   to see the Vice President  delete a post acknowledging that truth.  Erasing history dishonors the victims and weakens our commitment to  human rights everywhere," Pelosi wrote on her Facebook page.

For his part, Frank Pallone, co-chair of the House Armenian Issues  Committee, recalled that more than a million people were killed and  starved to death during the Armenian Genocide. "And when a senior  American official visited the eternal flame commemorating its  victims, the Trump administration once again failed to call this  crime by its true name," Pallone noted. Representative Jim McGovern  noted that by deleting the post, Vance and his wife showed that they  valued their authoritarian friends more than the truth. "It's  disgusting and pathetic. The Armenian Genocide is a fact. I led a  bipartisan coalition calling for the United States to recognize it,  which President Biden finally did in 2021," McGovern said.

Senator Ed Markey also stated that 1.5 million Armenians perished in  the Armenian Genocide. "That truth cannot be erased. I fought for the  United States to recognize these crimes as genocide, and I will  continue to stand with the Armenian community in resisting the Trump  administration's attempts to rewrite history," he said.

Representative Laura Friedman, meanwhile, called this action utterly  cowardly on the part of Vice President Vance. "You have no right to  lay a wreath at the Armenian Genocide memorial and then delete your  post mentioning the genocide to please Erdogan. Your actions are an  insult to the memory of the victims," Friedman said.

"The Armenian Genocide is a historical fact. Vice President Vance can  delete his post, but he cannot erase history. His decision to ignore  the facts is more than disrespectful to the Armenian community and  the millions of people who perished during the Armenian Genocide,"  said another representative, Judy Chu. 

A post about his visit to the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide  Memorial Complex was removed from Vice President J.D. Vance's social  media accounts on February 10. 

Earlier, a photo was posted on his Twitter page (X) from a visit to  Tsitsernakaberd with the following caption: "Vice President Vance and  Second Lady Usha Vance attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the 1915  Armenian Genocide Memorial today." Vance, commenting on the  situation, confirmed that the initial post was shared by mistake by   staff.

It is worth noting that Joe Biden became the first American president  to recognize the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during  World War I as genocide after it was recognized by Congress and the  Senate. Until April 24, 2021, the US leadership avoided such a  designation to avoid damaging relations with Ankara. Meanwhile,  according to the White House, the issue is not about blaming Turkey,  but rather reaffirming a historical fact. In 2019, the House of  Representatives and the Senate of the US Congress voted for a  resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.  It should be added that US President Ronald Reagan, in his  proclamation of April 22, 1981, officially recognized the Armenian  Genocide, placing it alongside the Holocaust and the Cambodian  genocide. In his statement, he emphasized the need to remember the  lessons of history so that such crimes against humanity are not  repeated.