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Time in Yerevan: 11:07,   28 March 2024

Huffington Post urges Obama to share Armenian Genocide orphan rug with American people

Huffington Post urges Obama to share Armenian Genocide orphan rug with American people

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The carpet is a symbol of the immense generosity that the American people once demonstrated to the children of the Middle East. It is a superb work of art and a poignant reminder of a time when the relationship between America and the Middle East was much different from today and built around education, humanitarian relief and cooperation. As reports “Armenpress”, American Huffington Post reflected upon the rug woven by the Armenian orphans.

The carpet itself is in storage at the White House and was reported to have been slated to be shown at the Smithsonian sometime in December. Notwithstanding, the U.S. Government decided not to allow the public display of the Armenian Genocide orphan rug. “Armenpress” News Agency introduces Huffington Post’s article in its entirety:

“Black and white photographs from the 1920s reveal the beauty of a carpet made by Armenian orphans at a refugee camp workshop in Lebanon and presented to President Calvin Coolidge as a gift. But unless President Barack Obama changes his mind, as a petition on Whitehouse.gov asks him to, the American people won't see the carpet or learn the history of the children who made it.

The orphans who tied the millions of knots that transformed wool thread into Edenic images of animals and plants were survivors of a World War One-era genocide that had taken the lives of their families. The room-sized carpet was a gesture of gratitude to the people of the United States for their humanitarian assistance to thousands of children and adults who had suffered terribly during the war.

Much of that help had come from Near East Relief, an organization chartered by the US Congress, that at one time was feeding and caring for 100,000s of orphans in the Middle East, Greece and Armenia. Help from Americans had kept these orphans alive and had provided them with education, health care and vocational training.

The carpet itself is in storage at the White House and was reported to have been slated to be shown at the Smithsonian sometime in December. However it seems to have been caught up in the contemporary politics of the Middle East. The government of Turkey -- contrary to a broad consensus of historians -- denies that the mass killings and deportations that had made the child carpet makers orphans was a genocide. Every year Ankara uses intense diplomatic pressure to prevent the US recognition of that genocide. The fear of offending Turkey may be why the White House pulled the rug out, as it were, from under the proposed exhibit at the museum.

More than just evidence of genocide, the carpet is a symbol of the immense generosity that the American people once demonstrated to the children of the Middle East. It is a superb work of art and a poignant reminder of a time when the relationship between America and the Middle East was much different from today and built around education, humanitarian relief and cooperation. Today, as millions more children are suffering because of the war in Syria, we have the right to remember that history and an obligation rekindle our tradition of compassion.”

Previously, it was reported that Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) urged President Obama to reverse an earlier decision and allow the display of the Armenian Genocide orphan rug, noting that the Turkish Government should not be allowed to dictate whether this cultural treasure is available to the public.

In a letter send to the White House, Rep. Pallone stated that "the refusal of the White House’s to allow display of the rug without explanation denies the American people access to a national treasure and suggests that discussion of the events surrounding the Armenian Genocide is unwelcome. The Armenian American community continues to make valuable contributions to the United States and our government should be committed to helping the community explore their history, including the Armenian Genocide."

"We want to thank Congressman Pallone for pressing the Obama Administration to do the right thing," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "It is a truly tragic testament to the depths of our Administration's deference to Ankara's angry and irrational genocide denial campaign that our White House - having been gagged into silence by Turkey on the Armenian Genocide - is now allowing this foreign government to dictate which works of art - U.S. property and part of our American history - we are allowed to display at the Smithsonian Institution."

Congressman Pallone joins Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) in pressing the White House to allow display of the Armenian Genocide Orphan rug through individual letters. This week, Representatives David Valadao (R-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) launched a Congressional letter urging their colleagues to band together in petitioning the White House to release the rug for view. Both Representatives Pallone and Sherman have cosigned the letter along with a growing bi-partisan list of House Members.

The ANCA launched a grassroots campaign last week calling upon the White House and Congress to secure a prominent and permanent public display of the historic rug, woven by Armenian Genocide orphans and presented to President Calvin Coolidge on December 4, 1925 in appreciation for U.S. humanitarian assistance in the aftermath of Turkey's murder of over 1.5 million Armenians from 1915-1923.

The Armenian orphan rug measures 11'7" x 18'5" and is comprised of 4,404,206 individual knots. It took the Armenian girls in the Ghazir Orphanage of the Near East Relief Society 10 months to weave. A label on the back of the rug, in large hand-written letters, reads "IN GOLDEN RULE GRATITUDE TO PRESIDENT COOLIDGE."

According to Missak Kelechian, an expert on this topic, the gift of the Armenian Orphan rug was widely covered in U.S. media, including in the New York Times in 1925 and the Washington Post in 1926.








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