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LOCAL ARMENIANS PROUD 'ORPHAN RUG' WILL BE DISPLAYED AT WHITE HOUSE VISITOR CENTER
Los Angeles Daily News
Oct 24 2014
By Brenda Gazzar, Los Angeles Daily News
Sarkis "Steve" Manoukian's father was 6 years old when Ottoman Turk
forces and their proxies brandishing swords and sledgehammers ambushed
his family and others in the Syrian Desert nearly a century ago.
Manoukian's mother told him that the horsemen brutally chopped off
heads and limbs of Armenian women, children and the elderly who
were forced to march for weeks in a caravan in 1915, leaving a sea
of severed bodies in their wake. Manoukian's father, Khatchik, was
the only family member to survive that attack. He was knocked down in
the chaos and awoke that night to a gruesome scene of desert animals
devouring the dead.
The orphaned Khatchik, who was rescued that night and adopted by Arab
Bedouins, lived as a shepherd in a Syrian village for nine years before
running away from desert life. He was about 15 years old when he found
his way to an American orphanage for Armenians in Aleppo that was run
by Near East Relief, a congressionally chartered organization that
contributed more than $110 million in humanitarian assistance from 1915
to 1930 to help the survivors of the Armenian Genocide, Manoukian said.
"I feel so grateful for the people of the United States, who in a way
saved my dad," said Manoukian, 69, of Reseda, who himself later lived
in a Danish orphanage in Lebanon with his mother and sister after
his father died of a stroke. "Otherwise, he would have had a hard life.
... They let him work in the orphanage, helping the baker for three
years until he became 18."
Now, these little-known American relief efforts will be spotlighted
when an elaborate rug woven by orphans of the genocide will be taken
out of storage and displayed as part of an exhibit at the White
House Visitor Center from Nov. 18-23. The Armenian Orphan Rug, also
known as the Ghazir Rug, was woven by seven Armenian girls from Near
East Relief's Ghazir Orphanage in Lebanon in 1920 and presented to
President Calvin Coolidge in 1925 as a symbol of their gratitude for
American humanitarian aid.
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The rug was originally going to be exhibited in the Smithsonian last
year in connection with a new book by Dr. Hagop Martin Deranian about
the Near East Relief organization, but the event was canceled at the
11th hour, said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank. President Barack Obama's
administration informed the museum that it was not appropriate to
exhibit the rug, part of the White House collection, at a book sale,
Schiff said. The Armenian community, however, was skeptical and
thought the decision had more to do with not wanting to offend the
Turkish government, which has long denied there was a systematic
campaign by the Ottoman Turks to kill Armenians, Schiff said.
Not long afterward, Schiff asked the White House if the rug could be
exhibited at a reception on Capitol Hill that focused on the efforts
of Near East Relief. Several months ago, the White House assured
him they would make the rug available in the fall, Schiff said,
"and now they have made good on that commitment."
The Turkish Consulate General in Los Angeles sees "the display of
the Armenian Orphan Rug, along with two other items, as a cultural
exhibit," a spokesperson said in an email. A vase and artwork titled
the "Flowering Branches in Lucite" will also be displayed.
This will be the third time the rug, slated to be part of the exhibit
entitled "Thank you to the United States: Three Gifts to Presidents
in Gratitude for American Generosity Abroad," will be displayed
since Coolidge's family returned it to the White House as a gift in
1982. It was removed with his possessions when he left office in 1929,
according to the National Security Council.
The ornate rug, which has more than 4 million hand-tied knots and
measures 11 feet 7 inches by 18 feet 5 inches, represents the tragic
story of what happened to Armenians between 1915 and 1923, with
massive deportations, displacement and genocide in which as many as
1.5 million Armenians were killed, said Deranian, author of the book
"President Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug."
But "more than that, it represents America as a nation of compassion
that came to the aid of the orphans," he said.
Near East Relief, once called the American Committee for Syrian and
Armenian Relief, saved the lives of at least a million people amid the
wreckage of the Ottoman Empire, treated more than 6 million patients
in NEF-run clinics throughout the region, established orphanages and
provided education and training to more than 100,000 Armenian children
who became orphaned in the turmoil, according to the website of the
Near East Foundation, which is what the organization is called today.
"I think (the rug) is an important link not only between the terrible
dark days of the genocide but also the beginning of an American
tradition of providing assistance to those in need, a tradition that
very much continues to this day," Schiff said.
Manoukian said he's proud that the Armenian Orphan Rug will finally
be displayed but characterized it as a "small step" taken by the
White House in an effort to satisfy the Armenian-American community.
"We'd like to see the U.S. government be more courageous and be
more honest about its past history and come forward and say, 'Look,
this is our ancestors. This is what they did. They conducted such
a humanitarian effort while a whole nation was being butchered,'"
Manoukian said.
Armenian-American Maurice Missak Kelechian, 54, of Toluca Lake, an
independent researcher who gives talks on Near East Relief, says he
believes the rug should be displayed much longer and in a prominent
museum such as the Smithsonian, particularly in light of Turkey's
denial and U.S. administrations' reluctance to use the word genocide,
he said.
"You think all Armenians are happy to remember the genocide?"
Kelechian said. "It's such a trauma to carry from one generation to
the other."
By displaying the Armenian Orphan Rug, "you're watering their souls
(of those who perished.) You're acknowledging their story."
Deranian, who lives in Massachusetts, will speak about the themes in
his book from 6 to 8 p.m. on Nov. 6 at Woodbury University, 7500 N.
Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank. The event, sponsored by the Armenian Assembly
of America, will include the display of a "sister rug" that was also
produced by girls in the Ghazir Orphanage.
http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20141023/local-armenians-proud-orphan-rug-will-be-displayed-at-white-house-visitor-center
From: Baghdasarian
Los Angeles Daily News
Oct 24 2014
By Brenda Gazzar, Los Angeles Daily News
Sarkis "Steve" Manoukian's father was 6 years old when Ottoman Turk
forces and their proxies brandishing swords and sledgehammers ambushed
his family and others in the Syrian Desert nearly a century ago.
Manoukian's mother told him that the horsemen brutally chopped off
heads and limbs of Armenian women, children and the elderly who
were forced to march for weeks in a caravan in 1915, leaving a sea
of severed bodies in their wake. Manoukian's father, Khatchik, was
the only family member to survive that attack. He was knocked down in
the chaos and awoke that night to a gruesome scene of desert animals
devouring the dead.
The orphaned Khatchik, who was rescued that night and adopted by Arab
Bedouins, lived as a shepherd in a Syrian village for nine years before
running away from desert life. He was about 15 years old when he found
his way to an American orphanage for Armenians in Aleppo that was run
by Near East Relief, a congressionally chartered organization that
contributed more than $110 million in humanitarian assistance from 1915
to 1930 to help the survivors of the Armenian Genocide, Manoukian said.
"I feel so grateful for the people of the United States, who in a way
saved my dad," said Manoukian, 69, of Reseda, who himself later lived
in a Danish orphanage in Lebanon with his mother and sister after
his father died of a stroke. "Otherwise, he would have had a hard life.
... They let him work in the orphanage, helping the baker for three
years until he became 18."
Now, these little-known American relief efforts will be spotlighted
when an elaborate rug woven by orphans of the genocide will be taken
out of storage and displayed as part of an exhibit at the White
House Visitor Center from Nov. 18-23. The Armenian Orphan Rug, also
known as the Ghazir Rug, was woven by seven Armenian girls from Near
East Relief's Ghazir Orphanage in Lebanon in 1920 and presented to
President Calvin Coolidge in 1925 as a symbol of their gratitude for
American humanitarian aid.
Advertisement
The rug was originally going to be exhibited in the Smithsonian last
year in connection with a new book by Dr. Hagop Martin Deranian about
the Near East Relief organization, but the event was canceled at the
11th hour, said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank. President Barack Obama's
administration informed the museum that it was not appropriate to
exhibit the rug, part of the White House collection, at a book sale,
Schiff said. The Armenian community, however, was skeptical and
thought the decision had more to do with not wanting to offend the
Turkish government, which has long denied there was a systematic
campaign by the Ottoman Turks to kill Armenians, Schiff said.
Not long afterward, Schiff asked the White House if the rug could be
exhibited at a reception on Capitol Hill that focused on the efforts
of Near East Relief. Several months ago, the White House assured
him they would make the rug available in the fall, Schiff said,
"and now they have made good on that commitment."
The Turkish Consulate General in Los Angeles sees "the display of
the Armenian Orphan Rug, along with two other items, as a cultural
exhibit," a spokesperson said in an email. A vase and artwork titled
the "Flowering Branches in Lucite" will also be displayed.
This will be the third time the rug, slated to be part of the exhibit
entitled "Thank you to the United States: Three Gifts to Presidents
in Gratitude for American Generosity Abroad," will be displayed
since Coolidge's family returned it to the White House as a gift in
1982. It was removed with his possessions when he left office in 1929,
according to the National Security Council.
The ornate rug, which has more than 4 million hand-tied knots and
measures 11 feet 7 inches by 18 feet 5 inches, represents the tragic
story of what happened to Armenians between 1915 and 1923, with
massive deportations, displacement and genocide in which as many as
1.5 million Armenians were killed, said Deranian, author of the book
"President Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug."
But "more than that, it represents America as a nation of compassion
that came to the aid of the orphans," he said.
Near East Relief, once called the American Committee for Syrian and
Armenian Relief, saved the lives of at least a million people amid the
wreckage of the Ottoman Empire, treated more than 6 million patients
in NEF-run clinics throughout the region, established orphanages and
provided education and training to more than 100,000 Armenian children
who became orphaned in the turmoil, according to the website of the
Near East Foundation, which is what the organization is called today.
"I think (the rug) is an important link not only between the terrible
dark days of the genocide but also the beginning of an American
tradition of providing assistance to those in need, a tradition that
very much continues to this day," Schiff said.
Manoukian said he's proud that the Armenian Orphan Rug will finally
be displayed but characterized it as a "small step" taken by the
White House in an effort to satisfy the Armenian-American community.
"We'd like to see the U.S. government be more courageous and be
more honest about its past history and come forward and say, 'Look,
this is our ancestors. This is what they did. They conducted such
a humanitarian effort while a whole nation was being butchered,'"
Manoukian said.
Armenian-American Maurice Missak Kelechian, 54, of Toluca Lake, an
independent researcher who gives talks on Near East Relief, says he
believes the rug should be displayed much longer and in a prominent
museum such as the Smithsonian, particularly in light of Turkey's
denial and U.S. administrations' reluctance to use the word genocide,
he said.
"You think all Armenians are happy to remember the genocide?"
Kelechian said. "It's such a trauma to carry from one generation to
the other."
By displaying the Armenian Orphan Rug, "you're watering their souls
(of those who perished.) You're acknowledging their story."
Deranian, who lives in Massachusetts, will speak about the themes in
his book from 6 to 8 p.m. on Nov. 6 at Woodbury University, 7500 N.
Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank. The event, sponsored by the Armenian Assembly
of America, will include the display of a "sister rug" that was also
produced by girls in the Ghazir Orphanage.
http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20141023/local-armenians-proud-orphan-rug-will-be-displayed-at-white-house-visitor-center
From: Baghdasarian