White House Spokesperson's Statement Was a ‘Trial Balloon’: Political Scientist

The statement made by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany that the Armenian Genocide Memorial was also a victim of vandalism in the United States has sparked widespread reactions both in Armenia and in the American press. In an interview with NEWS.am, international relations expert and head of the Armenian Center for American Studies Suren Sargsyan described the incident as an extraordinary phenomenon.

“It is significant that she did not shy away from using the term Genocide, meaning, for instance, she did not say ‘a monument dedicated to the mass killing of Armenians.’ She used the formulation that was stated in her speech. The uniqueness of this phenomenon is that no senior official from the White House, especially the press secretary, has ever used this term. On the contrary, they have tried to avoid this term, even when discussing the resolutions on the Armenian Genocide passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Therefore, such a statement has caused some surprise not only among us Armenians but also in the American press. Quite a few leading media outlets, including The Washington Post and Business Insider, spoke about it and also somewhat criticized the Trump administration for not using the term Genocide,” he emphasized.

Sargsyan does not believe that the White House spokesperson intentionally used that phrase. “But there is an important thing here; it seems that Turkey has made no statement regarding this. This was, in a sense, a ‘trial balloon’ to understand what possible developments might arise after such a statement. At least for us, this was a test balloon,” he told the news outlet.

The international relations expert believes that this statement should receive an official response from the Armenian side.