JD and Usha Vance at the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Monument

JD Vance Visits Armenian Genocide Memorial, Deletes Post about It from Social Media

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YEREVAN (Panorama.am) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance, accompanied by his wife Usha Vance, visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan as part his official visit to Armenia on Tuesday, February 10.

Vance was welcomed by Armenia’s Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires David Allen and Edita Gzoyan, director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, who guided the couple through the memorial complex and explained its history.

The vice president laid a wreath at the monument commemorating the victims of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, before he and his wife placed flowers at the Eternal Flame and observed a minute of silence.

In remarks written in the museum’s guest book, Vance said: “In solemn remembrance to the lives lost, we honor the resilience and enduring spirit of the Armenian people. May America and Armenia strive for a future of peace and understanding together.”

The museum director presented Vance with books on the Armenian Genocide and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the conclusion of the visit.

JD and Usha Vance at the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial

Later, a social media post by Vance about his visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial was removed shortly after it was published.

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Vance had shared photos and a statement referring twice to the Armenian Genocide following a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial honoring the victims of the 1915 mass killings.

The post and accompanying images were later deleted from the vice president’s account. Subsequently, Vance’s press secretary, Taylor Van Kirk, made a separate post confirming the visit but without referencing the original statement, sharing instead an image of Vance’s handwritten entry in the Armenian Genocide Museum’s book of honorary guests.

During the visit, Vance laid a wreath at the memorial, placed flowers at the eternal flame and observed a minute of silence. In the guest book, he wrote that the visit was made “in solemn respect for the lives lost”, honoring “the resilience and unbreakable spirit of the Armenian people” and expressing hope that the United States and Armenia would work together toward a future of peace and mutual understanding.

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