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The Jawa Report
Oct 26 2013
White House Refuses Smithsonian Request For Armenian Rug Display
Nothing like denying history to avoid hurt feelings.
The rug was woven by orphans in the 1920s and formally presented to
the White House in 1925. A photograph shows President Calvin Coolidge
standing on the carpet, which is no mere juvenile effort, but a
complicated, richly detailed work that would hold its own even in the
largest and most ceremonial rooms.
If you can read a carpet's cues, the plants and animals depicted on
the rug may represent the Garden of Eden, which is about as far
removed as possible from the rug's origins in the horrific events of
1915, when the fracturing and senescent Ottoman Empire began a
murderous campaign against its Armenian population. Between 1 million
and 1.5 million people were killed or died of starvation, and others
were uprooted from their homes in what has been termed the first
modern and systematic genocide. Many were left orphans, including the
more than 100,000 children who were assisted by the U.S.-sponsored
Near East Relief organization, which helped relocate and protect the
girls who wove the "orphan rug." It was made in the town of Ghazir,
now in Lebanon, as thanks for the United States' assistance during the
genocide.
There was hope that the carpet, which has been in storage for almost
20 years, might be displayed Dec. 16 as part of a Smithsonian event
that would include a book launch for Hagop Martin Deranian's
"President Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug." But on Sept.
12, the Smithsonian scholar who helped organize the event canceled it,
citing the White House's decision not to loan the carpet. [...]
Last week, the White House issued a statement: "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."
That leaves the rug, and the sponsors of the event, in limbo, a
familiar place for Armenians. Neither Ara Ghazarians of the Armenian
Cultural Foundation nor Levon Der Bedrossian of the Armenian Rugs
Society can be sure if the event they had helped plan was canceled for
the usual political reason: fear of negative reaction from Turkey,
which has resolutely resisted labeling the events at the end of the
Ottoman Empire a genocide. But both suspect it might have been.
http://www.mypetjawa.mu.nu/
From: A. Papazian
Oct 26 2013
White House Refuses Smithsonian Request For Armenian Rug Display
Nothing like denying history to avoid hurt feelings.
The rug was woven by orphans in the 1920s and formally presented to
the White House in 1925. A photograph shows President Calvin Coolidge
standing on the carpet, which is no mere juvenile effort, but a
complicated, richly detailed work that would hold its own even in the
largest and most ceremonial rooms.
If you can read a carpet's cues, the plants and animals depicted on
the rug may represent the Garden of Eden, which is about as far
removed as possible from the rug's origins in the horrific events of
1915, when the fracturing and senescent Ottoman Empire began a
murderous campaign against its Armenian population. Between 1 million
and 1.5 million people were killed or died of starvation, and others
were uprooted from their homes in what has been termed the first
modern and systematic genocide. Many were left orphans, including the
more than 100,000 children who were assisted by the U.S.-sponsored
Near East Relief organization, which helped relocate and protect the
girls who wove the "orphan rug." It was made in the town of Ghazir,
now in Lebanon, as thanks for the United States' assistance during the
genocide.
There was hope that the carpet, which has been in storage for almost
20 years, might be displayed Dec. 16 as part of a Smithsonian event
that would include a book launch for Hagop Martin Deranian's
"President Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug." But on Sept.
12, the Smithsonian scholar who helped organize the event canceled it,
citing the White House's decision not to loan the carpet. [...]
Last week, the White House issued a statement: "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."
That leaves the rug, and the sponsors of the event, in limbo, a
familiar place for Armenians. Neither Ara Ghazarians of the Armenian
Cultural Foundation nor Levon Der Bedrossian of the Armenian Rugs
Society can be sure if the event they had helped plan was canceled for
the usual political reason: fear of negative reaction from Turkey,
which has resolutely resisted labeling the events at the end of the
Ottoman Empire a genocide. But both suspect it might have been.
http://www.mypetjawa.mu.nu/
From: A. Papazian