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George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln -- and now Genghis Khan?
Mongolia, celebrating its 800th anniversary this year, wants its 13th century warrior hero to join the pantheon of statues of great American presidents gracing the US capital.
For most Westerners, the name of Genghis Khan conjures up the ruthless marauding hordes who conquered mainland Asia to set up the Mongolian empire.
But for the Mongolian community in the Washington area, Genghis Khan is, like George Washington, the father of his country.
"We hope the statue would be one of the highlights of the Mongolian community here," Sambuu Dawadash, spokesman for the Mongolian embassy in Washington, said in a phone interview with AFP.
The tribute is the brainchild of the community of immigrants from the Asian country sandwiched between China and Russia, "and we supported the idea," the embassy spokesman said.
The Mongolian community, concentrated mostly in the suburb of Arlington, Virginia, is growing quickly and now numbers about 2,000, he said.
Acknowledging Genghis Khan's "controversial" legacy in the West, Dawadash highlighted the accomplishments of a "tolerant" man who promoted religious coexistence in a single-tax empire that stretched from Hungary to the Korean peninsula.
"It was a good time for the East meeting the West," he said, rattling off a number of the warrior's achievements, such as establishing free trade, the fastest postal system at the time and a system of diplomatic invoices -- plates that ranged in status from wooden to gold -- that conferred privileges to the bearer.
Dawadash said that Western intellectual circles were reexamining the legacy of Genghis Khan, and pointed to American author Jack Weatherford's 2004 best-seller "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World," which makes the case for a kinder, gentler warrior.
"Now we think that there is a good opportunity for us to highlight his role in a positive way," he said.
As part of Mongolia's efforts to promote understanding of its history and culture, the embassy is co-sponsoring, with the US' Smithsonian Institution, "Genghis Khans Mongolia: 800 Years of Nationhood," a three-day festival that will open Friday at the National Museum of Natural History.
Asked how big the statue of Genghis Khan should be, Dawadash chuckled and replied: "The bigger, the better."
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AFP 032142 GMT 10 06
COPYRIGHT 2006 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved.
