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Vice President of the United States Joe Biden had visited Turkey by the end of the previous week. It is known that the results of the visit are not satisfying for the American side: Ankara had refused to satisfy the expectations of Washington regarding the “Islamic state”. However, regardless the results of the visit, the readers, the Armenian readers in particular, have paid their attention on a very curious fact, while discussing the photos of Erdogan – Biden joint press conference disseminated by the France Press agency.

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had received the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in the Istanbul based Beylerbeyi Palace. This is the summer residence of the Ottoman sultans and is located on the Asian shore of Bosporus. Beylerbeyi Palace was commissioned by Sultan Abdülaziz and built between 1861 and 1865 by Armenian architect Sarkis Balyan.

On one of the walls of the hall, where the Turkish President and the US Vice President held the press conference, a canvas by Armenian sea painter Hovhannes Ayvazovski was hanging. It is Sarkis Balyan whom Ayvazovski owes for his meeting with the High Porte.

Ottoman Imperial architect Balyan has performed as a mediator for the Turkish Sultan Abdul Mecid I to receive Ayvazovski. Abdul Mecid I, who had already one of the canvases of the famous Armenian painter, awarded him with a medal. The following sultan Abdülaziz was a more businesslike person. It was him who ordered to construct the Beylerbeyi Palace (meaning "Lord of Lords"). Sarkis Balyan presents to the last sultan, Abdülaziz, another painting by Ayvazovski. The seascape attracts the sultan so much that the latter orders him to paint 30 other canvases for him.

The Sultan amply rewards the Armenian painter for his work. Later on the success of Ayvazovski’s paintings makes Abdul Hamid II to express his gratitude to Ayvazovski by awarding him with a silver medal. Abdul Hamid awards Hovhannes Ayvazovski with another state medal before the massacre of Armenians.

The massacre organized and implemented by Abdul Hamid disappoints Hovhannes Ayvazovski deeply, who throws all the gifts received by the Turkish sultan into the sea. At the same time he says to the Consul of Turkey in Theodosia, “Tell your sanguinary master that I have thrown away all the medals received from him, and if he wants he can throw all my canvas into the sea.”

The Genocidal Turkey, naturally, has not thrown away the canvas of the prominent painter. Moreover, till now Ayvazovski’s works decorate the walls of such palaces like Beylerbeyi or Dolmabahçe. The latter, by the way, is constructed by Garabet Balyan, the father of Sarkis Balyan.

The photo made by the photographer of the “Associated Press” in Beylerbeyi Palace unveils one of the paintings by Ayvazovski, just behind the two officials holding the press conference. The western bloggers had surely noticed this fact and one of them has noted acutely, “However hard Turkey tries, it cannot hide away itself from Armenians…”