Trump enforces Ankara’s gag rule on genocide recognition
ANCA demands policy reset as Administration enables Azerbaijan's ongoing aggression
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) sharply condemns President Donald Trump’s continued retreat from American recognition and remembrance of the Armenian Genocide, as reflected in his refusal — for the sixth time — to acknowledge this crime by name in the White House’s annual April 24th statement marking the 111th anniversary of the Ottoman Turkish Government’s systematic annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians.
“President Trump is doubling down on his disgraceful surrender to Turkish threats — continuing, now for the sixth time, enforcing Ankara’s gag-rule against honest American remembrance of this crime — despite recognition by the White House, Congress, all 50 states, and more than a dozen NATO allies,” stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
“President Trump’s complicity in covering up Turkey’s crimes — actively enabling Ankara’s ongoing consolidation of the WWI-era genocide of the Armenian people — is compounded by his Administration’s reckless policies arming and enabling Azerbaijan’s continued attempts to annihilate Armenians from their historic homeland,” Hamparian continued. “In the wake of Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh’s indigenous Armenian population — amid its ongoing occupation of Armenian territory, abuse of Armenian prisoners, and destruction of Armenian Christian heritage — the United States has a duty not only to speak the truth about the 1915 Genocide, but to end its complicity in pan-Turkic attempts to complete this genocide.”
Trump’s failure to use the word genocide stands in direct contradiction to his 2024 campaign pledge to “restore peace in the South Caucasus and stop the violence and ethnic cleansing.”
The pattern of retreat has extended beyond the Oval Office. In February 2026, Vice President JD Vance visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan — only to delete his public post about that visit under pressure from Ankara. The @VP X account had initially posted: “Today, Vice President Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance attended a wreath laying ceremony at the Armenian Genocide memorial to honor the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide.” That post was removed and replaced with language stripping all reference to the Armenian Genocide. The ANCA condemned the deletion as a “disgraceful surrender to Turkish pressure” that demonstrated how Ankara “never tires of ritually humiliating America.”
“President Trump’s retreat from the truth was, sadly, amplified this February by Vice President Vance — who visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, only to delete his public post about this visit — under pressure from Ankara, which never tires of ritually humiliating America on this score,” Hamparian added.
Trump’s non-recognition stands in opposition to the record established by his predecessor. President Joe Biden formally used the term “genocide” in his April 24 statement in 2021 and throughout his Administration. The United States first recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1951 through a submission to the International Court of Justice. President Ronald Reagan cited the Genocide in a 1981 Holocaust Remembrance statement. In 2019, both the U.S. House (H.Res.220) and Senate (S.Res.150) passed measures affirming that recognition with overwhelming bipartisan support. All 50 U.S. states have formally recognized the Armenian Genocide through resolutions or proclamations.
The ANCA repeats its call on President Trump to honor the commitment he made during his campaign and to lead a fundamental reset in U.S. policy toward Turkey and the South Caucasus — one that ends U.S. complicity in genocide denial, holds perpetrators accountable, and ensures peace grounded in justice and the right of return for the Christian Armenian people of Artsakh.
Background: The Armenian Genocide and the U.S. record of recognition
April 24, 2026, marks the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide — the Ottoman Empire’s premeditated and systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, along with 750,000 Assyrians, Greeks, Maronites and other Christians. Between 1915 and 1923, more than two-thirds of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire was annihilated.
Modern-day Turkey — founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk — continues the genocide through denial, destruction of Armenian cultural heritage, and criminalization of remembrance. Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan has adopted similar policies and rhetoric, weaponizing denial and nationalism to justify its assault on the Armenian people of Artsakh and Armenia.
The Armenian Genocide continues today. In 2020, Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, launched a war against Artsakh, committing war crimes and displacing tens of thousands. In 2023, a brutal 10-month blockade culminated in Azerbaijan’s military assault on Artsakh, resulting in the genocidal ethnic cleansing of its entire indigenous Armenian Christian population. Since then, Azerbaijan has systematically destroyed Armenian churches, abused prisoners of war and threatened renewed war on the Republic of Armenia.
This is a sh#t world where “might is right”, the strong trample on the weak, injustice reigns supreme, and perpetrators get away with their crimes since time immemorial.
I am thankful to the U.S. for its yearly remembrance of Armenians on April 24. It does not have to.
I also am content with president’s George W Bush, Barack Obama, DonaldTrump, Joe Biden, Donald Trump for acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, they also don’t have to.
Those who still do not know what the president said by acknowledging Medz Yeghern, but are interested to know, they may check Wikipedia.
If recognizing formally and publicly the Armenian Genocide jeoperdizes the USA’s military might and influence in any way, then Turkey does hold any presidential administration by the balls and the USA’s gov’t system will bow to them. Politics is not known for morality. #reality
I quote Google’s response to my question: Has the U.S. of America, recognized the Armenian Genocide?
The answer I got:
“Yes, the United States has officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. President Joe Biden formally recognized it on April 24, 2021, and both houses of Congress passed resolutions in 2019 affirming that the Ottoman Empire’s 1915–1923 campaign against Armenians was genocide. All 50 states have also recognized it.”
Are you seriously suggesting our president ‘bows’ to turkey? Come on.
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest” Thomas Paine
The US is not an honest and moral broker. They will sell Armenia completely out at the right time
The United States cannot even be regarded as a “fair-weather friend”. No country on Earth has betrayed its allies and partners as much as the United States. Of course, every country’s foreign policy is based on national self-interest and Machiavellianism, but the United States’ backstabbing and ingratitude, is a league of its own.
Trump is a real estate slum lord and a two bit member of a borderless crime syndicate. Erdogan is part of the crime gang as well and money laundering is an integral part of their racket.
The Turks pay Trump millions to put his name on a building. As Trump is a transaction driven crook, pay him and he’ll do you whatever you want.