Representatives Adam Schiff and David Valadao are urging their Congressional colleagues to join them in co-signing a letter urging the White House to reverse its decision to block the public display of a rug woven by Armenian orphans and gifted to President Calvin Coolidge in appreciation for U.S. humanitarian assistance following Ottoman Turkey’s genocide of over 1.5 million Armenians from 1915-1923, Asbarez reported.

In their Congressional letter, Reps. Valadao and Schiff, who are the lead sponsors of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.227), note: “The Armenian Orphan  Rug is a piece of American history and it belongs to the American people. For over a decade, Armenian American organizations have sought the public display of the rug and have requested the White House and the State Department grant their request on numerous occasions. Unfortunately, Armenian Americans have yet to have their requests granted.”

The Congressional letter campaign comes in the wake of Washington Post and National Public Radio reports last week that the White House, after agreeing to lend the rug for an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institute, organized in cooperation with the Armenian Cultural Foundation and Armenian Rug Society, mysteriously and abruptly announced it would not make this historic artwork available for display.