Open Feud over Hidden Rug

“It is without a doubt a political decision,” he said in an interview. Hamparian was in New York on Tuesday to take up the issue with the US ambassador to Armenia, John A. Heffern.

An estimated 1.2 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks as the empire was dissolving during World War I, an episode historians have concluded was genocide. But Turkey has contended that Turks and Armenians were casualties of war, famine and disease.

In September, a Smithsonian curator wrote the Armenian Cultural Foundation and Armenian Rugs Society, which were helping to organize the exhibit, that the White House decided that “it cannot lend” the rug for the exhibit. “Needless to say this was a great surprise and disappointment to us here,” wrote Paul Michael Taylor, director of the Smithsonian’s Asian cultural history program.

The rug, composed of more than 4 million hand-tied knots, was presented to Coolidge in appreciation for US humanitarian assistance. It features more than 100 images of animals, according to Hagop Martin Deranian, a 91-year-old Massachusetts dentist whose book “President Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug” was to have been featured at the rug exhibit.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who helped gather the signatures of 30 other lawmakers on a letter to the White House, called the White House decision “as inexplicable as it is hurtful to the Armenian community.” Schiff added, “The rug is not only a symbol of the resilience of the Armenian people through their darkest days; it also serves as a tangible expression of the inherent truth that not only were 1.5 million people killed in the first genocide of the 20th century, but that the American government was a central player in efforts to call attention to the plight of the Armenian people and provide relief to survivors.”

“It is difficult to express in words how deeply troubling it is that a historical and cultural treasure accepted by President Coolidge on behalf of the people of the United States may be being kept behind closed doors because of Turkish desire to keep discussion of certain historical facts out of the public discussion,” Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, wrote the White House in a separate letter. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) also wrote the White House, urging that the rug be put on permanent display at the Smithsonian: “We must acknowledge and learn from the tragic crimes against humanity that orphaned the weavers of this rug to ensure that they are never repeated.”