Shame on President Donald Trump for doubling down on his repeated refusals to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.
Trump’s denials are contrary to the multiple acknowledgments of the Armenian Genocide by the highest levels of the U.S. government:
- On May 28, 1951, the United States government submitted an official document to the International Court of Justice recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
- President Ronald Reagan mentioned the Armenian Genocide in his Presidential proclamation of April 22, 1981.
- The U.S. House of Representatives adopted, by overwhelming majorities, three resolutions in 1975, 1984 and 2019 acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.
- The U.S. Senate acknowledged the Armenian Genocide unanimously (100-0) in 2019, despite President Trump’s failed efforts to block it.
- President Joe Biden issued statements on April 24 of 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.
- All 50 U.S. states have acknowledged the Armenian Genocide.
- More than 30 countries, including over a dozen NATO members, have acknowledged the Armenian Genocide.
Despite all of these acknowledgments, President Trump continues to cave in to Erdogan’s denial of the Armenian Genocide by refusing to use the term Armenian Genocide for the sixth time — during the four years of his first term in office and the two years of his second term. We should also not forget Vice President JD Vance’s shameful deletion of the term Armenian Genocide from his post on X, shortly after visiting the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan on Feb. 10, 2026.
Since President Trump refuses to utter the word genocide, fearing to offend his buddy Erdogan, how can Armenians trust him to defend Armenia’s security and sovereignty? Trump and Vance should have been universally condemned for their reprehensible behavior. Yet, we have not heard a single criticism from their Armenian supporters. Those who vote for JD Vance for president in 2028 will become complicit in his denial of the Armenian Genocide.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and the Armenian Assembly issued statements criticizing President Trump’s continued denial of the Armenian Genocide. The ANCA condemned “President Trump’s complicity in covering up Turkey’s crimes.” The Armenian Assembly expressed “deep concern that the failure to clearly affirm the Armenian Genocide is contributing to a climate of impunity at the very moment Armenian Christian heritage in Artsakh is under renewed assault.”
In contrast to President Trump, dozens of world leaders and major organizations issued strong and unequivocal statements about the Armenian Genocide on April 24, 2026. Among them were: President Vladimir Putin of Russia, President of Greece Konstantinos Tasoulas, President of Lebanon Joseph Aoun, the Parliament of Sweden, the Foreign Ministry of Cyprus, Foreign Minister of Uruguay Mario Lubetkin, the World Council of Churches, Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney, President of France Emmanuel Macron, Vice President of the German Bundestag Bodo Ramelow, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California state legislature, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey also issued a statement on April 24, which he has done annually since 2014. As expected, he distorted the historical facts, stating that “all Ottoman subjects suffered deeply,” thus equating the victims of the Armenian Genocide with Turkish soldiers who died during World War I. While Erdogan was shedding crocodile tears, Istanbul authorities once again banned commemorations of the Armenian Genocide on April 24.
Even more disappointing was the statement issued by the prime minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, on April 24. After repeatedly insulting the Armenian nation by raising unnecessary questions about the veracity of the genocide, he continues to distort the historical facts.
In a lengthy statement Pashinyan issued on April 24, 2026, rather than blaming the Young Turks as the perpetrators, he described the “Meds Yeghern” as “a consequence of the practice of drawing the Armenian people into international intrigues.” Pashinyan then abused the occasion of the genocide anniversary to promote his so-called peace agenda. In a troubling assertion, he claimed that Armenia is underpopulated, seemingly preparing the ground for the possible settlement of 300,000 Azeris in Armenia, a demand previously raised by Aliyev.
At Pashinyan’s orders, Armenia’s public TV (funded by taxpayers) did not broadcast the laying of the wreath by Catholicos Karekin II at the Genocide Memorial on April 24. Carrying out Pashinyan’s vendetta against the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian Genocide Museum removed website posts on Catholicos Karekin II’s visit to the Memorial.
To the delight of Azerbaijan and Turkey, Pashinyan condemned the burning of the Turkish flag by participants in a torchlight procession in Yerevan on the evening of April 23. Thus, once again, Pashinyan, Aliyev and Erdogan find themselves aligned in positions hostile to Armenian national interests.
Pashinyan then further offended the Armenian nation by organizing a large public concert and festive celebration on April 25, the day after the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
How can one blame foreign leaders for their disputable positions on the Armenian Genocide when Armenia’s own prime minister takes such offensive actions and makes questionable statements?
“Since President Trump refuses to utter the word genocide, fearing to offend his buddy Erdogan, how can Armenians trust him to defend Armenia’s security and sovereignty?”
And there lies your problem, Harut. Go back and read Khrimyan Haygrig’s “Iron Ladle” story because you and other Armenians still don’t get it after 100+ years.
It is not the responsibility of the United States (or other country) to defend Armenia’s security and sovereignty. Does the United States do it for other countries? Yes. Does it have to? No. The U.S. can do whatever it wants, with whomever it wants. It is precisely your victim mindset that will keep Armenia DEpendent, weak, poor, underpopulated, and insecure. Armenia must develop its own economy, modernize, build its own military industrial complex including nuclear weapons, increase its population four-fold, uproot and destroy corruption like cancer, and develop relationships with all nations to be as prosperous and powerful as it can be. Yes, even with the Turks and Azeris (with caution) who deserve God’s wrath for doing what they’ve done to our people. If you disagree, please send all the young males in your family to enlist in Armenia’s military.
You’ve made a conscious decision to live, work, pay taxes, etc. in Glendale, CA and not Armenia which is fine. It becomes a problem when millions of Armenians like you leave Armenia too, re-create Armenia in other countries (i.e. Glendale), start renaming streets (i.e. Artsakh St – laughable), and believe they have a rightful say in Armenia’s every day decisions. The Diaspora is not the boss of Armenia.
Your humanitarian airlifts for decades are commendable, but that’s it. If you want to do more, move to Armenia, pay your taxes to the Armenian government, live and invest your dollars in Armenia, and vote for your desired change in Armenia.
Your online replies show that you’re a bit of an emotional hot head, so don’t let your head explode after reading this comment. We are having a civil discussion, so I and others welcome your thoughts.
Thank you for your comments, but regrettably, you wasted your time. Even a child knows what you wrote. I suggest that The Weekly not accept comments or articles from anonymous writers under pseudonyms. We just don’t know who writes them. They could be written by a Turk to sow dissension among Armenians. For example, you kindly suggest that I move to Armenia, yet I cannot tell if the writer lives in Armenia, Turkey or the moon.
There are several problems with what you wrote about Trump. Of course, heads of states are expected to do what’s in their countries’ national interests, except for Trump and Pashinyan. They both do what’s in their personal, not national, interests. You are mistakenly assuming that when Reagan, Biden and the US Congress (repeatedly) recognized the Armenian Genocide, they did it against US interests. On the contrary, recognizing the Armenian Genocide is in the US interest. You also misunderstood what I wrote about the foolish expectation by some that the US would defend Armenia. I don’t believe such a thing. Only naive Armenians believe such a fantasy.
Thank you for your reply. I can’t say that you actually put any thought into what you said. Again, you are revealing deep seated and hurtful beliefs with statements such as, “I suggest that The Weekly not accept comments or articles from anonymous writers under pseudonyms. We just don’t know who writes them. They could be written by a Turk to sow dissension among Armenians.” You simply can’t accept or will ever accept the fact that not all Armenians think like you or believe what you believe. I am very Armenian, and actually thought and believed exactly what you think and believe, but I don’t think and believe that way anymore. And, because as an Armenian I think differently, your brain goes haywire and can’t process or believe what you are reading and hearing. I answered your question about what I am: Armenian, and I will answer your other question about where I live: United States. It is well known where you live: Glendale. Back to my point: you and other Armenians don’t have the right to demand what Armenians in Armenia should do or how to live their lives. If they want to vote for Pashinyan twice after everything he has done, then that is their decision. You don’t live there! Obviously, you love Armenia and care about our nation, but you don’t love it enough to live there. You and other Armenians would rather live in Glendale, enjoy all the perks of living in the US, and recreate Armenia inside Glendale, while continuing to hoot and holler at Armenia from thousands of miles away. Trump and Pashinyan, while trying to do what is in their own best interests, are not dictators. They operate in governments which have checks and balances. They represent the Executive Branch but are checked by other branches: Judicial and Legislative. That’s how it works in the US. I admit I don’t know exactly how it works in Armenia, but I know there are opposition parties that disagree with Pashinyan’s party and do not align with him. How is recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the US’ interest? Please explain other than it being a moral issue and the US should do the right thing? Nobody cares! Do you think some white couple sitting in a small diner, in a small town in Tennessee, know what Armenians are let alone their Genocide? I’m impressed that you actually admitted that the US would not defend Armenia! And if the US does not care enough to defend Armenia because the US cares 0% about Armenia, why in the world should it care 100% about its Genocide? Until Armenia becomes more valuable of an ally and asset to the US than Turkey, then the US will continue caring less about Armenia. I challenge you to think about what’s been said. Snap out of your mind virus. I grew up ARF and hating Turks for what they did. You will die with hate in your heart, Harut. Of course, we must never forget what the Turks did to our people and still continuing a white genocide against our people with revising history, banning Genocide commemorations in Istanbul, and sandblasting Armenian inscriptions from ancient monasteries. I will never move to and live in Armenia because I don’t want to, but I challenge every single patriotic Armenian like you to repatriate to the homeland and work internally to make Armenia prosperous and powerful.
https://asbarez.com/mirzoyan-says-diasporas-views-do-not-align-with-armenias-needs/
Interesting timing of an article that supports what I said.
Your demands from Glendale (or demands from any Armenians anywhere outside of Armenia) are useless and actually condescending to the actual Armenians who live there. You don’t live there. You CAN live there by purchasing a one-way ticket today from LAX and be in Armenia tomorrow. After you land, your voice will instantly become relevant. You don’t want to do that though. You will never do that which is fine, but keep your mouth closed and stop re-creating Armenia outside of Armenia. There is a real country called Armenia. We are fortunate to still have a nation which is a miracle after thousands of years of being the battlefield of other nations and being tossed around and used with millions of other people being massacred. No need to re-create Armenia outside of Armenia to feel like you are living in Armenia. You live in the United States like me, so your allegiance and protection is for the United States and its interests. If you don’t like it, call Levon Travel and buy a one-way ticket to Armenia.
I am not fan of President Trump. His administration has been severely compromised by special interests. His close ties to Epstein is deeply disturbing. His war on Iran on behalf of Israel is an act of imperial aggression. That being said, Trump is the president of the United States and he should therefore be expected to do what is in the best interests of the United States. Friendly reminder: we Armenians are not Jews. So let’s stop pretending that Armenians have or can have political influence in Washington. It’s just not going to happen. As for Turkey, it is a regional superpower and a long standing NATO member. Turkey also controls strategic trade routes that Israel, Europe and the United States are dependent on. As long as Turkey maintains its ties with the Western world no American president will go against Turkey, especially not for a small, remote, landlocked, impoverished and politically confused nation like Armenia. For better or for worst, Armenia has but two natural allies in this world: Russia and Iran. For better or for worst, Russians and Iranians are the only people on earth that actually want to see an Armenia on the world map. Long story short, Americans need to start worrying about the future of the United States and Armenians need to worry about the future of Armenia. I hope to see American presidents exclusively serving U.S. interests. I hope to see Armenians stop wasting their time in places like Brussels and Washington and instead start concentrating on effort to rekindle relations with Moscow and Tehran.
Interesting points made, countries are supposed to advance their own national interests not necessarily at the outright expense of others as that tends to lead to wars. Thus a US president should advance US interests, Russia, Russia’s interests and Armenia, Armenia’s and so forth. Donald Trump is especially narcissistic and isn’t going to irk Turkey for the sake of its previous constitutions killings of people 100+ years ago. In Europe today the holocaust legacy is fast becoming passe and present day Europeans are increasingly unwilling to be expected to flagellate themselves over something barley living memory now and accelerated by the often Israeli supported immigration of Africans and Asians who can’t be guilt tripped either along with its own destruction of Gaza and US empowered hegemony means it can’t really expect sympathy in the way it did decades ago. True Armenians aren’t Jews despite some similarities, namely the Armenian lobby will always be far behind the Jewish/Israeli lobby and in turn anti Armenianism will be small change compared to anti semitism. Turkey controls the supply route of Azeri oil and gas to Israel but beyond that isn’t particularly a gatekeeper for Israel, it has the sea and inept Arabs as it’s conduits. Getting Nuclear weapons, this is ridiculous since there’s no way Armenia could develop them without inviting attack from Azerbaijan and Turkey over it clearly the goings on in neighbouring Iran with much greater resources have been completely lost on those in ” Planet Armenia” . Also since they can’t be used it seems they aren’t actually a deterrence as Ukraine has shown it’s not deterred by Russia’s nuclear weapons and Israel’s presumed nuclear weapons haven’t deterred Iran from striking at it and other opponents such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Links with Iran and Russia, sadly Iran whilst sympathetic can hardly reach out for the sake of Christian Armenia against Muslim Azerbaijan even if it’s relationship with Azerbaijan is fraught. Also Iran has since the opening with the end of the Soviet Union not paid much attention to the south Caucasus, the Levant has been its focus. Also as Iran is a pariah to the USA reaching out to Iran would ruin relationship with the USA, even Russia isn’t willing to stand closer with Iran not wanting to antagonise the USA for it and Iran doesn’t trust Russia either. Russia, a country who has given false hopes provoking the genocide and then signed away western Armenia to Turkey who then lost little time in distancing from the USSR once it had got what it wanted, similarly Russia has played the same trick and been made a Fool of by Azerbaijan 100 years later, its been an abusive controlling but enfeebling ally gladly selling weapons to Azerbaijan to be used on Armenia, taking it’s loyalty for granted, stymied Armenia gas pipeline from Iran so it was domestic supply only denying the potential of a transit and the prospect of stronger relationships with Iran and Georgia. Also military tie in Azerbaijan since 1994 was free to buy weapons from NATO countries and NATO linked Israel whereas Armenia had a tie in having to stick with Russian military equipment only to be caught out in 2020 which exposed how badly Armenia had fallen behind, Russia own actions on Ukraine showed its hypocrisy vis a vis Armenia control of Arktash 1994-2020 and that it’s military practice wasn’t that outstanding after all and Putin had been engaging in the most skillfull blinder in recent years, thus the notion of the 2020 defeat being soley due to distancing from Russia sown by the Russians and pro Russian Armenians was debunked on the steppes of Ukraine along with its failure to protect Arktash which it had sought in 2020 ultimately turning into an embarrassment, after all no Berlin airlift or Sarajevo siege relief for the gullible Armenians whose blind faith in Russia would meet a harsh reckoning. Indeed Russia has cynically capitalised on Armenias issues with Turkey and Azerbaijan whilst having sometimes quite friendly relationships with Turkey and Azerbaijan itself to control Armenia and resents Armenia building links via it’s diaspora with France and USA and links with Greece and India, Russia wants to monopolise and control Armenia. Nevertheless it’s citizens and residents of a country who call it’s future not a diaspora who sometimes think they know better from far away although an outsider can be more perceptive than someone inside having a better sense of context but there’s the risk of being the passenger who doesn’t drive telling the driver they aren’t driving well.