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ARMENIAN ORPHAN RUG, SYMBOL OF TRAGIC PAST, IS BRIEFLY ON VIEW
McClatchy Washington Bureau
November 18, 2014 Tuesday
by Michael Doyle; McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON
Beauty born from gratitude and horror, the Armenian Orphan Rug went on
long-awaited public display Tuesday at the White House Visitor Center.
The storied rug's nearly weeklong display two blocks from the White
House culminates a lobbying campaign led by California lawmakers and
the Armenian-American community. It's unveiling Tuesday morning was
a history lesson, a political statement and, not least, an aesthetic
revelation.
"Ahh," said Libby Heffern, the wife of the U.S. ambassador to Armenia,
John Heffern. "Magnificent."
Heffern was among dozens of enthusiasts who flocked to see the
roughly 11-foot-by-18-foot rug, partially rolled out on a platform in
a corner of the visitors center. A priest from an Armenian Apostolic
Church in Maryland chanted a blessing, reporters from three Armenian
television networks lit up the scene and several members of Congress
posed for pictures.
Nearby were two other foreign gifts to presidents: a French vase
presented to President Herbert Hoover after World War I, and Japanese
cherry and dogwood blossoms encased in acrylic, given to President
Barack Obama.
The rug, the vase and the encased blossoms had each been presented
in gratitude for U.S. generosity after international catastrophes.
"The American people should be proud to display this rug," said
Southern California resident Hratch Kozibeyokian, a director of the
Armenian Rugs Society. "This carpet is a symbol of a good deed. Why
should it be hidden from public display?"
Hidden away - Armenian-Americans and their myriad Capitol Hill allies
believe - has until now been the rug's fate.
The rug was intended to thank the United States for relief provided
to victims of what Obama has diplomatically called the Meds Yeghern,
which is Armenian for "great calamity." The half a dozen House of
Representatives members who convened Tuesday, including Republican
Rep. David Valadao and Democratic Rep. Jim Costa from California's
San Joaquin Valley, used another word:
Genocide.
By some estimates, 1.5 million Armenians died at the end of the Ottoman
Empire, from 1915 to 1923. Historians and governmental bodies have
characterized the catastrophe as genocide, a term first recognized in
international law in 1948 as referring to actions intended to destroy
in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
Armenian girls in the Ghazir Orphanage operated by the Near East
Relief, located on a hilltop in what's now Lebanon, took 10 months to
complete the rug before it was presented in December 1925 to President
Calvin Coolidge. The rug - depicting lions, birds, unicorns and eagles
- contains 4,404,206 hand-tied knots.
"Each one of those knots was made by a child who lost her parents to
the slaughter," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. "The rug brings to
life the shattered families."
Measured precisely, the rug is 11 feet 7 inches by 18 feet 5 inches.
It's previously been displayed in the White House in 1984 and 1995.
Groups that include the Armenian National Committee of America and
the Armenian Assembly of America wanted it shown anew at the famed
Smithsonian Castle as part of a reception last year for a new book,
"President Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug."
The Smithsonian display never transpired, though, and many activists
blamed a White House worried about antagonizing Turkey. Turkey has
lobbied long, hard and successfully against the Armenian genocide
resolutions that lawmakers introduce in every Congress.
The word "genocide" doesn't appear on the visitor center's display
explaining the rug's background, and U.S. diplomats avoid using the
term in public.
"The characterization of those events," John Heffern carefully told
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his 2011 ambassadorial
confirmation hearing, "is a policy decision that is made by the
president of the United States."
No such hesitation is voiced by the lawmakers whose districts include
Armenian-American voters, and the initial White House refusal to
display the rug incited a lobbying campaign that included group
and personal letters, behind-the-scenes phone calls and pressure on
social media.
"The Armenian Orphan Rug not only symbolizes the terror and the
struggle of the Armenian people," Costa said, "but also their fighting
spirit."
The rug is on display at the White House Visitor Center, 1450
Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, through Sunday.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
McClatchy Washington Bureau
November 18, 2014 Tuesday
by Michael Doyle; McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON
Beauty born from gratitude and horror, the Armenian Orphan Rug went on
long-awaited public display Tuesday at the White House Visitor Center.
The storied rug's nearly weeklong display two blocks from the White
House culminates a lobbying campaign led by California lawmakers and
the Armenian-American community. It's unveiling Tuesday morning was
a history lesson, a political statement and, not least, an aesthetic
revelation.
"Ahh," said Libby Heffern, the wife of the U.S. ambassador to Armenia,
John Heffern. "Magnificent."
Heffern was among dozens of enthusiasts who flocked to see the
roughly 11-foot-by-18-foot rug, partially rolled out on a platform in
a corner of the visitors center. A priest from an Armenian Apostolic
Church in Maryland chanted a blessing, reporters from three Armenian
television networks lit up the scene and several members of Congress
posed for pictures.
Nearby were two other foreign gifts to presidents: a French vase
presented to President Herbert Hoover after World War I, and Japanese
cherry and dogwood blossoms encased in acrylic, given to President
Barack Obama.
The rug, the vase and the encased blossoms had each been presented
in gratitude for U.S. generosity after international catastrophes.
"The American people should be proud to display this rug," said
Southern California resident Hratch Kozibeyokian, a director of the
Armenian Rugs Society. "This carpet is a symbol of a good deed. Why
should it be hidden from public display?"
Hidden away - Armenian-Americans and their myriad Capitol Hill allies
believe - has until now been the rug's fate.
The rug was intended to thank the United States for relief provided
to victims of what Obama has diplomatically called the Meds Yeghern,
which is Armenian for "great calamity." The half a dozen House of
Representatives members who convened Tuesday, including Republican
Rep. David Valadao and Democratic Rep. Jim Costa from California's
San Joaquin Valley, used another word:
Genocide.
By some estimates, 1.5 million Armenians died at the end of the Ottoman
Empire, from 1915 to 1923. Historians and governmental bodies have
characterized the catastrophe as genocide, a term first recognized in
international law in 1948 as referring to actions intended to destroy
in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
Armenian girls in the Ghazir Orphanage operated by the Near East
Relief, located on a hilltop in what's now Lebanon, took 10 months to
complete the rug before it was presented in December 1925 to President
Calvin Coolidge. The rug - depicting lions, birds, unicorns and eagles
- contains 4,404,206 hand-tied knots.
"Each one of those knots was made by a child who lost her parents to
the slaughter," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. "The rug brings to
life the shattered families."
Measured precisely, the rug is 11 feet 7 inches by 18 feet 5 inches.
It's previously been displayed in the White House in 1984 and 1995.
Groups that include the Armenian National Committee of America and
the Armenian Assembly of America wanted it shown anew at the famed
Smithsonian Castle as part of a reception last year for a new book,
"President Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug."
The Smithsonian display never transpired, though, and many activists
blamed a White House worried about antagonizing Turkey. Turkey has
lobbied long, hard and successfully against the Armenian genocide
resolutions that lawmakers introduce in every Congress.
The word "genocide" doesn't appear on the visitor center's display
explaining the rug's background, and U.S. diplomats avoid using the
term in public.
"The characterization of those events," John Heffern carefully told
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his 2011 ambassadorial
confirmation hearing, "is a policy decision that is made by the
president of the United States."
No such hesitation is voiced by the lawmakers whose districts include
Armenian-American voters, and the initial White House refusal to
display the rug incited a lobbying campaign that included group
and personal letters, behind-the-scenes phone calls and pressure on
social media.
"The Armenian Orphan Rug not only symbolizes the terror and the
struggle of the Armenian people," Costa said, "but also their fighting
spirit."
The rug is on display at the White House Visitor Center, 1450
Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, through Sunday.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress