Tweet
OPEN FEUD OVER HIDDEN RUG
Los Angeles Times
November 13, 2013 Wednesday
Lawmakers accuse White House of political motives in blocking the
display of an Armenian genocide 'icon'
by Richard Simon WASHINGTON
In a new twist to efforts to call attention to the Armenian genocide,
a group of lawmakers has accused the Obama administration of blocking
a Smithsonian display of a rug woven by orphans of the mass killings
nearly a century ago.
The lawmakers wrote to President Obama urging him to make the rug
available for exhibition. It was presented to President Calvin Coolidge
in 1925 and has been in storage. The bipartisan group includes more
than a dozen representatives from California, which has a large
Armenian American population.
The roughly 12-foot-by-18-foot Armenian Orphan Rug was to be featured
in a Washington exhibit Dec. 16 at the Smithsonian Institution
Building, known as the Castle, that sought to call attention to a
new book about the rug, which the lawmakers called a "pivotal icon
related to the Armenian genocide."
A White House spokeswoman said Tuesday that displaying the rug
"for only half a day in connection with a private book launch event,
as proposed, would have been an inappropriate use of U.S. government
property, would have required the White House to undertake the risk of
transporting the rug for limited public exposure, and was not viewed
as commensurate with the rug's historical significance."
Aram S. Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National
Committee of America, attributed the decision to politics, contending
that the administration was "catering to the Turkish government's
sensitivities about the Armenian genocide."
"It is without a doubt a political decision," he said in an interview.
Hamparian was in New York on Tuesday to take up the issue with the
U.S. ambassador to Armenia, John A. Heffern.
An estimated 1.2 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks as
the empire was dissolving during World War I, an episode historians
have concluded was genocide. But Turkey has contended that Turks and
Armenians were casualties of war, famine and disease.
In September, a Smithsonian curator wrote the Armenian Cultural
Foundation and Armenian Rugs Society, which were helping to organize
the exhibit, that the White House decided that "it cannot lend" the
rug for the exhibit. "Needless to say this was a great surprise and
disappointment to us here," wrote Paul Michael Taylor, director of
the Smithsonian's Asian cultural history program.
The rug, composed of more than 4 million hand-tied knots, was presented
to Coolidge in appreciation for U.S. humanitarian assistance. It
features more than 100 images of animals, according to Hagop Martin
Deranian, a 91-year-old Massachusetts dentist whose book "President
Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug" was to have been featured
at the rug exhibit.
Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who helped gather the signatures of 30
other lawmakers on a letter to the White House, called the White House
decision "as inexplicable as it is hurtful to the Armenian community."
"It is difficult to express in words how deeply troubling it is that
a historical and cultural treasure accepted by President Coolidge on
behalf of the people of the United States may be being kept behind
closed doors because of Turkish desire to keep discussion of certain
historical facts out of the public discussion," Rep. Frank Pallone Jr.
(D-N.J.), co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues,
wrote the White House in a separate letter.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) also wrote the White House,
urging that the rug be put on permanent display at the Smithsonian:
"We must acknowledge and learn from the tragic crimes against humanity
that orphaned the weavers of this rug to ensure that they are never
repeated."
Neither Schiff nor Sherman has received a White House response.
The controversy over the rug, first reported by the Washington Post,
is the latest development on an issue that has roiled Capitol Hill
for years.
A House panel in 2010 passed a resolution to officially recognize
the mass killings between 1915 and 1918 as genocide, but the measure
never made it to the House floor for a vote after Turkey recalled its
ambassador in protest and U.S. officials warned it could damage U.S.
relations with Turkey, an important ally.
In 2007, after a majority of House members signed on as co-sponsors,
the resolution appeared headed toward approval.
But two dozen lawmakers withdrew their support after the George W.
Bush administration and the Turkish government warned that passage
of the resolution could lead Turkey to block U.S. access to its air
bases used to get supplies to American troops in Iraq.
Los Angeles Times
November 13, 2013 Wednesday
Lawmakers accuse White House of political motives in blocking the
display of an Armenian genocide 'icon'
by Richard Simon WASHINGTON
In a new twist to efforts to call attention to the Armenian genocide,
a group of lawmakers has accused the Obama administration of blocking
a Smithsonian display of a rug woven by orphans of the mass killings
nearly a century ago.
The lawmakers wrote to President Obama urging him to make the rug
available for exhibition. It was presented to President Calvin Coolidge
in 1925 and has been in storage. The bipartisan group includes more
than a dozen representatives from California, which has a large
Armenian American population.
The roughly 12-foot-by-18-foot Armenian Orphan Rug was to be featured
in a Washington exhibit Dec. 16 at the Smithsonian Institution
Building, known as the Castle, that sought to call attention to a
new book about the rug, which the lawmakers called a "pivotal icon
related to the Armenian genocide."
A White House spokeswoman said Tuesday that displaying the rug
"for only half a day in connection with a private book launch event,
as proposed, would have been an inappropriate use of U.S. government
property, would have required the White House to undertake the risk of
transporting the rug for limited public exposure, and was not viewed
as commensurate with the rug's historical significance."
Aram S. Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National
Committee of America, attributed the decision to politics, contending
that the administration was "catering to the Turkish government's
sensitivities about the Armenian genocide."
"It is without a doubt a political decision," he said in an interview.
Hamparian was in New York on Tuesday to take up the issue with the
U.S. ambassador to Armenia, John A. Heffern.
An estimated 1.2 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks as
the empire was dissolving during World War I, an episode historians
have concluded was genocide. But Turkey has contended that Turks and
Armenians were casualties of war, famine and disease.
In September, a Smithsonian curator wrote the Armenian Cultural
Foundation and Armenian Rugs Society, which were helping to organize
the exhibit, that the White House decided that "it cannot lend" the
rug for the exhibit. "Needless to say this was a great surprise and
disappointment to us here," wrote Paul Michael Taylor, director of
the Smithsonian's Asian cultural history program.
The rug, composed of more than 4 million hand-tied knots, was presented
to Coolidge in appreciation for U.S. humanitarian assistance. It
features more than 100 images of animals, according to Hagop Martin
Deranian, a 91-year-old Massachusetts dentist whose book "President
Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug" was to have been featured
at the rug exhibit.
Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who helped gather the signatures of 30
other lawmakers on a letter to the White House, called the White House
decision "as inexplicable as it is hurtful to the Armenian community."
"It is difficult to express in words how deeply troubling it is that
a historical and cultural treasure accepted by President Coolidge on
behalf of the people of the United States may be being kept behind
closed doors because of Turkish desire to keep discussion of certain
historical facts out of the public discussion," Rep. Frank Pallone Jr.
(D-N.J.), co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues,
wrote the White House in a separate letter.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) also wrote the White House,
urging that the rug be put on permanent display at the Smithsonian:
"We must acknowledge and learn from the tragic crimes against humanity
that orphaned the weavers of this rug to ensure that they are never
repeated."
Neither Schiff nor Sherman has received a White House response.
The controversy over the rug, first reported by the Washington Post,
is the latest development on an issue that has roiled Capitol Hill
for years.
A House panel in 2010 passed a resolution to officially recognize
the mass killings between 1915 and 1918 as genocide, but the measure
never made it to the House floor for a vote after Turkey recalled its
ambassador in protest and U.S. officials warned it could damage U.S.
relations with Turkey, an important ally.
In 2007, after a majority of House members signed on as co-sponsors,
the resolution appeared headed toward approval.
But two dozen lawmakers withdrew their support after the George W.
Bush administration and the Turkish government warned that passage
of the resolution could lead Turkey to block U.S. access to its air
bases used to get supplies to American troops in Iraq.