JD Vance posted and then deleted a message referring to the 'Armenian genocide.' Here's why the phrase matters.

"U.S. Vice President JD Vance's team posted and then deleted a message on social media about the Republican's visit to a memorial paying tribute to early 20th century Armenians killed by the Ottoman Empire. The issue was the post using the term "Armenian genocide," a designation the U.S. government historically has not used for what happened, with a notable exception by the Biden administration. The White House blamed a staff mistake."

""Genocide" is a fraught and legally distinct term that national governments, international bodies and media organizations use carefully. The United Nations in 1948 defined genocide "to mean certain acts, enumerated in Article II, committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such," according to the U.S. State Department's long-held understanding."

"Vance visited a site called the Armenian Genocide Memorial, Armenia's official national monument, remembering its citizens who died under the Ottoman Empire's brutal control during World War I. The initial post on Vance's official X account stated that he was visiting the memorial "to honor the victims of the Armenian genocide." It was replaced with a second post that showed what he wrote in the guest book as well as a clip of the vice president and Usha Vance laying flowers at the memorial."

Vice President JD Vance visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial, Armenia's national monument honoring citizens who died under Ottoman control during World War I. Vance's official X account initially posted that he was visiting "to honor the victims of the Armenian genocide," then deleted that post and replaced it with a message showing his guest book entry and a clip of him and Usha Vance laying flowers. The White House attributed the original post to a staff mistake. The term "genocide" carries a specific legal definition from the United Nations and has been used cautiously by U.S. governments, with the Biden administration as a noted exception. Vance was the first U.S. vice president to visit Armenia and was in the country as part of follow-up to a U.S.-brokered Armenia-Azerbaijan deal.

Read at Boston.com