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BURBANK CONGRESSMAN WANTS WHITE HOUSE TO DISPLAY ARMENIAN RUG
89.3 KPCC, CA
Nov 11 2013
Kitty Felde | November 11th, 2013, 6:00am
The battle over official U.S. government recognition of the Armenian
Genocide has recently focused on a rug woven by orphan girls and
presented to President Calvin Coolidge nearly a century ago. A Southern
California lawmaker is calling on the White House to put the carpet
on display.
The ruby red and purple rug took ten months to weave and was a
thank-you gift for American aid to more than 100,000 Armenian orphans.
Young women tied more than four million knots to create the carpet.
It was supposed to be the centerpiece of a Smithsonian event next
month to launch a new book called "President Calvin Coolidge and the
Armenian Orphan Rug." But the White House declined to make the rug
available, saying in a statement that it's "not possible to loan it
out at this time."
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and colleague David Valadao (R-Hanford)
are circulating a "dear colleague" letter, urging the president to
change his mind. So far nearly three dozen lawmakers have signed on.
Schiff says the president's reluctance comes down to a single issue:
"the Administration doesn't want to offend Turkey."
Turkey is an important military ally. Ottoman Turks are said to have
killed more than a million Armenians in the early years of the 20th
century. The Turkish government maintains that number is inflated
and the victims were caught in the middle of a civil war. Official
Washington has been reluctant to go on the record acknowledging
the genocide.
Schiff, who spoke on the House floor in Armenian on the April
anniversary of the genocide, says the rug, with its millions of knots,
is a tangible way to come to grips with the genocide. "These girls were
real. What they went through was real. And I think it's the power of
that rug that is part of the reason the administration doesn't want
to exhibit it."
An online petition on the White House website asks for the rug to be
displayed, but so far, it has fewer than 600 signatures.
Candidate Barack Obama said, "America deserves a leader who speaks
truthfully about the Armenian Genocide." But President Obama has
avoided using the term.
Kitty Felde, Washington, D.C. Correspondent
http://www.scpr.org/blogs/politics/2013/11/11/15152/burbank-congressman-wants-white-house-to-display-a/
89.3 KPCC, CA
Nov 11 2013
Kitty Felde | November 11th, 2013, 6:00am
The battle over official U.S. government recognition of the Armenian
Genocide has recently focused on a rug woven by orphan girls and
presented to President Calvin Coolidge nearly a century ago. A Southern
California lawmaker is calling on the White House to put the carpet
on display.
The ruby red and purple rug took ten months to weave and was a
thank-you gift for American aid to more than 100,000 Armenian orphans.
Young women tied more than four million knots to create the carpet.
It was supposed to be the centerpiece of a Smithsonian event next
month to launch a new book called "President Calvin Coolidge and the
Armenian Orphan Rug." But the White House declined to make the rug
available, saying in a statement that it's "not possible to loan it
out at this time."
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and colleague David Valadao (R-Hanford)
are circulating a "dear colleague" letter, urging the president to
change his mind. So far nearly three dozen lawmakers have signed on.
Schiff says the president's reluctance comes down to a single issue:
"the Administration doesn't want to offend Turkey."
Turkey is an important military ally. Ottoman Turks are said to have
killed more than a million Armenians in the early years of the 20th
century. The Turkish government maintains that number is inflated
and the victims were caught in the middle of a civil war. Official
Washington has been reluctant to go on the record acknowledging
the genocide.
Schiff, who spoke on the House floor in Armenian on the April
anniversary of the genocide, says the rug, with its millions of knots,
is a tangible way to come to grips with the genocide. "These girls were
real. What they went through was real. And I think it's the power of
that rug that is part of the reason the administration doesn't want
to exhibit it."
An online petition on the White House website asks for the rug to be
displayed, but so far, it has fewer than 600 signatures.
Candidate Barack Obama said, "America deserves a leader who speaks
truthfully about the Armenian Genocide." But President Obama has
avoided using the term.
Kitty Felde, Washington, D.C. Correspondent
http://www.scpr.org/blogs/politics/2013/11/11/15152/burbank-congressman-wants-white-house-to-display-a/