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Jihad Watch
Oct 26 2013
Obama stops Smithsonian from displaying Armenian Genocide-era artwork
for fear of irking Turks
Turkey's ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide is consistent with an
unbroken Islamic supremacist pattern: never, ever admit wrongdoing;
never, ever take responsibility for actions that cause harm; never,
ever acknowledge that jihad actions (such as the Armenian Genocide)
cause immeasurable suffering to human beings; always, always instead
blame the kuffar who have the temerity to point out the wrongdoing.
And Obama, who counts Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a friend, falls right in line.
"Armenian `orphan rug' is in White House storage, as unseen as
genocide is neglected," by Philip Kennicott for the Washington Post,
October 21 (thanks to AINA):
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. In a letter
to two Armenian American organizations, Paul Michael Taylor, director
of the institution's Asian cultural history program, had no
explanation for the White House's refusal to allow the rug to be seen
and said that efforts by the U.S. ambassador to Armenia, John A.
Heffern, to intervene had also been unavailing.
Although Taylor, Heffern and the White House curator, William G.
Allman, had discussed during a January meeting the possibility of an
event that might include the rug, it became clear that the rug wasn't
going to emerge from deep hiding.
`This week I spoke again with the White House curator asking if there
was any indication of when a loan might be possible again but he has
none,' wrote Taylor in the letter. Efforts to contact Heffern through
the embassy in the Armenian capital of Yerevan were unsuccessful, and
the State Department referred all questions to the White House.
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.
`Turkey is a very powerful country,' says Der Bedrossian, whose
organization was planning to fund a reception for the event.
And it's a sign of the Obama administration's dismal reputation in the
Armenian American community that everyone assumes it must be yet
another slap in the face for Armenians seeking to promote
understanding of one of the darkest chapters in 20th-century history.
Aram Suren Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National
Committee of America, says the president has had `a very negative
reception across the board in the Armenian world, and that includes
both Democrats and Republicans.' The principal emotion is profound
disappointment. As a candidate, and senator, Obama spoke eloquently
about the Armenian genocide, risking the ire of Turkey and Turkish
organizations. But since taking office, says Hamparian, Obama has
avoided the word, making more general statements about Armenian
suffering. Critics of his silence point to the geopolitical importance
of Turkey in a region made only more complex by the Arab Spring and a
brutal civil war in Syria.
...
Calls and e-mails to the Turkish Embassy in Washington weren't returned....
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/10/obama-stops-smithsonian-from-displaying-armenian-genocide-era-artwork-for-fear-of-irking-turks.html
Oct 26 2013
Obama stops Smithsonian from displaying Armenian Genocide-era artwork
for fear of irking Turks
Turkey's ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide is consistent with an
unbroken Islamic supremacist pattern: never, ever admit wrongdoing;
never, ever take responsibility for actions that cause harm; never,
ever acknowledge that jihad actions (such as the Armenian Genocide)
cause immeasurable suffering to human beings; always, always instead
blame the kuffar who have the temerity to point out the wrongdoing.
And Obama, who counts Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a friend, falls right in line.
"Armenian `orphan rug' is in White House storage, as unseen as
genocide is neglected," by Philip Kennicott for the Washington Post,
October 21 (thanks to AINA):
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. In a letter
to two Armenian American organizations, Paul Michael Taylor, director
of the institution's Asian cultural history program, had no
explanation for the White House's refusal to allow the rug to be seen
and said that efforts by the U.S. ambassador to Armenia, John A.
Heffern, to intervene had also been unavailing.
Although Taylor, Heffern and the White House curator, William G.
Allman, had discussed during a January meeting the possibility of an
event that might include the rug, it became clear that the rug wasn't
going to emerge from deep hiding.
`This week I spoke again with the White House curator asking if there
was any indication of when a loan might be possible again but he has
none,' wrote Taylor in the letter. Efforts to contact Heffern through
the embassy in the Armenian capital of Yerevan were unsuccessful, and
the State Department referred all questions to the White House.
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.
`Turkey is a very powerful country,' says Der Bedrossian, whose
organization was planning to fund a reception for the event.
And it's a sign of the Obama administration's dismal reputation in the
Armenian American community that everyone assumes it must be yet
another slap in the face for Armenians seeking to promote
understanding of one of the darkest chapters in 20th-century history.
Aram Suren Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National
Committee of America, says the president has had `a very negative
reception across the board in the Armenian world, and that includes
both Democrats and Republicans.' The principal emotion is profound
disappointment. As a candidate, and senator, Obama spoke eloquently
about the Armenian genocide, risking the ire of Turkey and Turkish
organizations. But since taking office, says Hamparian, Obama has
avoided the word, making more general statements about Armenian
suffering. Critics of his silence point to the geopolitical importance
of Turkey in a region made only more complex by the Arab Spring and a
brutal civil war in Syria.
...
Calls and e-mails to the Turkish Embassy in Washington weren't returned....
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/10/obama-stops-smithsonian-from-displaying-armenian-genocide-era-artwork-for-fear-of-irking-turks.html