"Armenian ‘orphan rug’ is in White House storage, as unseen as genocide is neglected"
Philip Kennicott
Shortly after the devastating genocide committed by the bloody hands of the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian peoples, the modicum percentage of Armenians who had survived were left devastated. In the the early 1920's, a group of Armenian orphans who had survived the genocide had woven a rug to thank the American Government for their aid. That rug was formally sent to then president, Calvin Coolidge's, home: the White House. Coolidge had proudly displayed it due to its symbolic and sentimental value and it's delicate and appealing touches. Ever since Coolidge's term, it has been put in the White House storage. Author Hagop Martin Deranian had hoped that for the launching of his new book, President Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug, he could display the rug. Considering his launch was at the world renounced Smithsonian museum, he had assumed the White House would budge and let him display the rug. Due to an important relationship with the Turkish government, a rug that has been in storage for years - with probably no sentimental value to any president past Coolidge - the White House turned him down. A rug might not be billions of dollars in oil rights, an important military, or yearly funding, but it is a sign of appreication that should be of importance to the American government.
No comments:
Post a Comment