No Red Carpet for Erdogan: ANCA-WR Calls on California Leaders to Deny Turkish President Any Official Welcome
Erdogan's June 25 World Cup Attendance Must Not Sportswash Ankara's Genocide Denial and Complicity in Azerbaijan's Ethnic Cleansing of Artsakh
June 20, 2026LOS ANGELES, CA – The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region (ANCA-WR) is calling on Los Angeles and California elected officials to deny Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan any official welcome to Southern California. Erdogan — who leads Turkey’s international campaign to deny justice for the Armenian Genocide and provided direct military support for Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh — is reportedly traveling to the region for the June 25 FIFA World Cup match between the United States and Turkey.
“No red carpets, no staged smiles, no photo-ops for a genocide denier who armed the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh and calls it a matter of pride,” said Oshin Harootoonian, Chairman of the ANCA-WR Board of Directors. “Erdogan should be shunned by city and state leaders, not embraced by them. Los Angeles will not be used as a backdrop for his rehabilitation tour.”
To reject Erdogan’s attempt to sportswash his regime’s record of Genocide denial and aggression against Armenians, the ANCA-WR is calling on Los Angeles and California civic leaders to take four specific steps: issue public statements confirming no official welcome will be extended to Erdogan; refrain from any ceremonial engagement with the Turkish delegation; decline any photo opportunity tied to his visit; and affirm their solidarity with the Armenian-American community. The ANCA-WR has written directly to local, state, and federal officials urging them to make clear that Erdogan is not welcome in Los Angeles.
Erdogan is not a guest Los Angeles is obligated to honor. He comes to exploit the World Cup’s global platform as cover for a regime built on repression, Genocide denial, and military aggression — just as he has exploited international football tournaments and Formula One races before. Allowing civic leaders to stand beside him would make Los Angeles a prop in that political theater.
Turkey’s government denies the Armenian Genocide — the systematic massacres and eradication of approximately 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923 — a crime recognized by the U.S. federal government, the State of California, and the City and County of Los Angeles. Ankara has lobbied foreign governments to block or roll back recognition, criminalized public discussion of the killings, and kept its border with Armenia sealed as an instrument of that denial.
That denial is not a matter of history alone. During the 2020 Artsakh war, Turkey supplied Azerbaijan with military advisers, Bayraktar TB2 combat drones, and diplomatic cover — involvement Erdogan publicly confirmed. Three years later, following a nine-month blockade, Azerbaijan launched a 24-hour military offensive in September 2023 that forced more than 120,000 ethnic Armenians to flee their ancestral homeland. When it was over, Erdogan stood beside Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and called the outcome a matter of “pride.”
California is home to more than one million Armenian Americans — the majority of them descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors — one of the largest Armenian diaspora communities in the world. For elected leaders representing this community, extending any courtesy to a head of state who denies that Genocide, armed those who ethnically cleansed Artsakh, and celebrated the result is not a matter of diplomatic protocol. It is a moral failure. Los Angeles and California’s leaders must stand with their constituents, not provide a platform to a government that has worked for decades against everything they hold dear.
