Pasadena Assemblymember Condemns Trump for Omitting ‘Genocide’ From Armenian Remembrance Statement

Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena) condemned President Trump on Thursday for refusing to use the word “genocide” in his annual April 24 statement marking the anniversary of the systematic killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire.

Trump’s White House statement, titled “Presidential Message on Armenian Remembrance Day,” used the Armenian phrase “Meds Yeghern” — meaning “Great Crime” or “Great Catastrophe” — but did not include the word “genocide,” according to the text published on whitehouse.gov.

The Armenian National Committee of America, an advocacy organization, said it was the sixth time across two presidential terms that Trump has declined to use the term.

“By refusing to call the Armenian Genocide what it is, he is perpetuating a dangerous false narrative,” Harabedian said in a statement released by his office. “As an Armenian American, this is a betrayal of history and a deliberate act of denial.”

Harabedian is the only Armenian American serving in the California Legislature and chairs the California Armenian Legislative Caucus Foundation. He represents the 41st Assembly District, which includes Pasadena.

His statement landed the same day Pasadena held community observances at its permanent Armenian Genocide Memorial in Memorial Park, where student marches, a candlelight vigil, and a community gathering were planned as part of the city’s tradition of April 24 recognition spanning more than 30 years.

The term “Meds Yeghern” was first used in a presidential April 24 statement by President Barack Obama in 2009, according to MassisPost. President Joe Biden used the word “genocide” in his April 24 statements from 2021 through 2025, according to the ANCA.

Both chambers of Congress formally recognized the Armenian Genocide in 2019. The House passed its resolution 405-11, according to congressional records, and the Senate followed by unanimous consent. All 50 states have also recognized it.

Days before Trump’s statement, Harabedian and more than 25 California state legislators sent the president a bipartisan letter explicitly requesting genocide recognition, according to the ANCA’s Western Region office. The California Assembly had also passed HR-97 on April 20, recognizing April 24, 2026, as the state’s Day of Commemoration of the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, according to the Assembly record.

“We will not beg any leader to recognize our history,” Harabedian said in his statement. “The facts are clear, and the truth demands to be spoken.”

Aram Hamparian, executive director of the ANCA, said that 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.”

Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed April 24, 2026, as “A Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide,” according to his office. Pasadena Mayor Victor M. Gordo also proclaimed the date a Day of Remembrance.

Southern California is home to approximately 200,000 Armenian Americans, the largest such concentration in the United States.