Starbucks has withdrawn a poster showing Armenian women in traditional clothing drinking coffee under the crescent and star of the Turkish flag and apologised to customers for causing offence.

The posters, displayed at at least one coffee shop in Los Angeles, angered Armenian Americans because of sensitivities around the deaths of more than a million Armenians at the hands of Turkish Ottoman forces in the early 20th century.

“Why is Starbucks selling coffee using an image of women, dressed in traditional Armenian costumes, celebrating a Turkish state that systematically victimized Armenian women during the Armenian genocide, and that still denies this crime against all humanity?” the Armenian National Committee Of America (ANCA) asked on Facebook.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Starbucks poster featuring Armenia women under the Turkish emblem. Photograph: Screengrab

Scholars estimate that some 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman forces in what is now eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1918. Ankara has rejected the term “genocide” in connection with the killings, saying both Turks and Armenians committed atrocities during and after the first world war.

Social media users claimed to have seen the poster in several Starbucks around Los Angeles county, which is home to 446,000 people with full or partial Armenian ancestry.

As outrage grew this week, the company posted an apology on the ANCA’s Facebook page and promised to remove the offending images.

“Serving as a place for the community to connect is core to our business and we strive to be locally relevant in all of our stores,” a Starbucks representative wrote. “We missed the mark here and we apologize for upsetting our customers and the community.”



The representative added that the advertisement would be removed from a store in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Woodland Hills and that Starbucks is “working to make this right”.

It was not immediately clear exactly how many shops had displayed the image.

A Starbucks spokesperson told RFE/RL by email that the company was “quickly looking into this to ensure this image is not in any other Starbucks locations”.

‘Flood of concern’

ANCA executive director Aram Hamparian said the group became aware of the posters from social media users in California on 18 February and that his group believes they were displayed in at least “two or three locations in southern California”.

“It became very clear very quickly that this was a very serious issue for the entire community, because we started getting a flood of concern,” said Hamparian, adding that Starbucks had responded “very appropriately”.

Preparations are underway worldwide for this year’s commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the mass killing of Armenians under Ottoman rule. The tragedy has been recognised as genocide by more than 20 countries, including Germany and Russia – but not the UK.

Earlier this month Armenian president Serzh Sarkisian recalled parliamentary protocols aimed at normalising ties and establishing diplomatic relations with Turkey, accusing Ankara of lacking “political will” and thwarting the process with “preconditions”.

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Armenian service.