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Did Turkey Put The Kibosh On Carpet Display?

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  • Did Turkey Put The Kibosh On Carpet Display?

    ARMENIA: DID TURKEY PUT THE KIBOSH ON CARPET DISPLAY?

    EurasiaNet.org
    Dec 5 2013

    December 5, 2013 - 1:51pm, by Liana Aghajanian

    It's not often that Calvin Coolidge's name is invoked these days
    in Washington. But the long-dead 30th president is figuring in a
    controversy involving several Armenian-American organizations, the
    Smithsonian Institution and the White House.

    At the center of the controversy is an intricate and colorful carpet
    depicting the Garden of Eden, woven by orphaned Armenian girls and
    presented to then-president Coolidge in the late 1920s. It is known
    as the Ghazir Rug, named after the Lebanese city where it was made
    by 400 orphans who lost their families during the mass slaughter of
    Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces starting in 1915.

    The gift to Coolidge was a gesture of gratitude to the United
    States, specifically for the relief efforts mounted by the Near East
    Foundation, an American philanthropic organization founded in response
    to the Armenian mass slaughter in Ottoman Turkey. The foundation's
    programs were credited with saving hundreds of thousands of lives.

    For close to a century, the Ghazir Rug has remained largely hidden
    in White House storage. But a similar carpet, known as the "Armenian
    Orphan Sister Rug" will be on display December 5 in Boston, as part
    of a holiday event sponsored by the Armenian Assembly of America,
    a prominent Diaspora group. Martin Deranian, author of a book on the
    Ghazir Rug's history, titled President Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian
    Orphan Rug, will be a featured speaker at that event. The sister carpet
    to be displayed in Boston is part of Deranian's personal collection.

    The Boston holiday gala, however, has not quelled a controversy that
    began in the autumn, when the White House abruptly decided not to
    lend the Ghazir Rug to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington,
    DC, for an event to mark the publication of Deranian's book.

    In a September letter, Paul Michael Taylor, director of the Asian
    cultural history program at the Smithsonian, wrote to organizers
    -- Ara Ghazarians, curator at the Massachusetts-based Armenian
    Cultural Foundation and Levon Der Bedrossian at the Armenian Rugs
    Society - expressing regret that the White House had, without reason
    or explanation, decided not to lend the rug for the Smithsonian
    event. As a result, the event, which had been scheduled for December
    16, was canceled.

    "Needless to say this was a great surprise and disappointment ...

    because White House staff had previously offered considerable
    assistance or the use of the rug," Taylor wrote in the September
    letter. The letter also mentioned that the US Ambassador to Armenia,
    John Heffern, made inquiries on his own, but determined that the loan
    of the Ghazir rug would not be possible.

    The White House issued a statement last month: "The Ghazir Rug is
    a reminder of the close relationship between the peoples of Armenia
    and the United States. We regret that it is not possible to loan it
    out at this time."

    Thirty-one members of Congress, including Adam Schiff, whose district
    includes a large number of Armenian-Americans, signed a letter in
    mid-November urging the Obama administration to let the rug be
    displayed. The White House has remained firm on not lending out
    the carpet.

    The Smithsonian or Taylor did not respond to requests from EurasiaNet
    for comment. The U.S. Department of State referred a request to
    the White House. Officials at the White House did not respond to a
    EurasiaNet.org query.

    Without an explanation from the White House, representatives of
    Disaspora groups, including the National Association for Armenian
    Studies and Research (NAASR), believe the Smithsonian cancellation
    was prompted by pressure from the Turkish government, which denies
    that the 1915 events constitute Genocide. Turkey has been known to
    exert diplomatic pressure on the United States on matters relating
    to the recognition of the 1915 events.

    "I see this to be a clear cut example of an administration playing
    unfairly and unjustly to a people who deserve so much better," said
    Stephen Kurkjian, a former journalist for the Boston Globe and member
    of NAASR.

    Levon Der Bedrossian of the Armenian Rugs Society, a California-based
    organization, suspects the same political motives. "We've seen this
    time and again, after so many years it is the strength of the Turkish
    lobby, there is no other explanation," Der Bedrossian said.

    Anthony Barsamian -- who headed the group "Armenian-Americans for
    Obama" in 2008 and 2008 and 2012, and a board member of the Armenian
    Assembly of America -- characterized the decision to not loan Ghazir
    Rug as unacceptable - especially as the centennial of the mass
    slaughter approaches in 2015. "Why should the White House deny the
    Armenian Community their artifact?" he asked.

    Editor's note: Liana Aghajanian is a freelance writer based in Los
    Angeles.

    http://www.eurasianet.org/node/67835

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