KOCHARIAN HONORS U.S. ENVOY
By Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 6 2006
President Robert Kocharian handed on Wednesday a prestigious state
award to John Evans during a farewell meeting with the outgoing U.S.
ambassador to Armenia.
Kocharian said, according to his office, that he decided to award
the Mkhitar Gosh Medal to Evans in recognition of the latter’s
“remarkable contribution to the development and strengthening of
Armenian-American friendly relations.” The bilateral ties have made
“serious progress” and yielded “tangible results” during the retiring
diplomat’s two-year service in Armenia, the presidential press service
quoted him as saying.
Evans was cited as agreeing with Kocharian and singling out the U.S.
government’s decision earlier this year to provide $235.6 million
worth of economic assistance to Armenia under the Millennium Challenge
Account (MCA) program. He is apparently the first U.S. government
official awarded by the Armenian government.
The award appears to be a thinly veiled gesture of gratitude
for Evans’s public description of the 1915-1918 mass killings
and deportations of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as genocide. “The
Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the 20th century,” the
envoy had declared during a series of meetings in early 2005 with
Armenian-American activists in California.
The bombshell remarks contradicted a long-running U.S. government
policy of avoiding the use of the word genocide with regard to the
Armenian massacres. They are believed to have been instrumental in
the Bush administration’s decision, officially announced in May,
to replace Evans with another career diplomat. The normal diplomatic
term for U.S. ambassadors abroad is three years.
In an interview with RFE/RL last week, Evans refused to comment
on the controversy triggered by his recall, saying that it is an
internal U.S. affair. He indicated that he might speak up about it
in a future book.

VAN BUYTEN EARNS BELGIUM WIN
UEFA, Switzerland
Sept 6 2006
Qualifying round – 06 September 2006 21:00 (local time) – Republican
– Yerevan
Armenia 0 – 1 Belgium
41′ Van Buyten
A Daniel Van Buyten goal ensured Belgium returned to winning ways
with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Armenia. Rene Vandereycken’s team
could only draw 0-0 with Kazakhstan in their opening UEFA EURO 2008~Y
qualifier on 16 August, yet they managed three points in Yerevan
despite not having things all their own way.
Slow start The Armenians, playing their first game in the section, held
their own in an opening half-hour of limited opportunities. Midfielder
Hamlet Mkhitaryan hit a left-footed shot over the bar for the hosts,
while at the other end Luigi Pieroni and Karel Geraerts fired wide
of Gevorg Kasparov’s goal.
Pieroni denied Samvel Melkonyan then sent a right-footed effort wide
of Belgium keeper Stijn Stijnen before visiting forward Pieroni forced
the first save of note in the 30th minute, Kasparov smothering his
left-footed strike from outside the box. The Armenia custodian was
called into action by the same player five minutes later, this time
denying Pieroni with his feet.
Pressure pays off R. Standard de Liège midfielder Geraerts then
volleyed wide as the visitors continued to pepper the hosts’ goal. The
Belgians reaped the reward for their pressure four minutes before
half-time when Van Buyten’s header from Jelle Van Damme’s cross found
the top corner.
Belgium comfortable In the second period, Feyenoord defender Pieter
Collen was forced off through injury just before the hour, with
Anderlecht’s Anthony Vanden Borre coming on. Despite the enforced
switch, the Belgians coped comfortably with Armenia’s attemps to
restore parity to secure the first win of their Group A campaign.
–Boundary_(ID_JXWwzCdmmOuy5wYtmSzYSg)- –

JOURNEY FOR HUMANITY WALKS TO RAISE AWARENESS OF GENOCIDE
By Connie Jo Discoe
AINA, CA
Assyrian International News Agency
Sept 6 2006
One step after the other … one day and 30 miles at a time, six young
people are making their way across America, celebrating their freedom
to do so and, at the same time, remembering and honoring those who
have lost their freedoms, and their lives.
The mission of the walkers’ organization, “Journey for Humanity,”
is to raise awareness of genocide — the deliberate and systematic
annihilation of a racial, political or cultural group — the genocides
of the past and those occurring even now.
“Genocide — crimes against humanity — is going on today, as we talk
and as we walk,” said Vahe Abovian.
Vahe joins Hasmig Tatiossian, Edward Majian, Sarkis Nazaryan, Albrik
Zohrabyan and Levon Sayadyan in a 3,300-mile trek across America —
from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. — to tell people about the
vitally important issue of genocide. “It keeps happening,” said Hosmig
Tatiossian, “because we don’t learn from it.”
Journey for Humanity recognizes seven occurrences of genocide in
recent history:
1915-1923, “The Armenian Genocide,” by the Ottoman Turkish Government,
during which more than one-half of the Armenian population (about
1.5 million) people was killed. Approximately 750,000 Assyrians and
about one million Greeks also lost their lives.
1933-1945, “The Holocaust” by Nazi Germany, in which two out of three
Jews living in Europe were killed by 1945. Also targeted and killed
were Soviet prisoners of war, Gypsies, homosexuals, the physically
handicapped and mentally disabled.
1975-1979, “The Cambodian Genocide,” in which the Pol Pot Regime tried
to “purify” Cambodia of western culture, city life and religion, and
more than 25 percent of the country’s population died of starvation,
overwork and execution. All those considered to be part of the “old
society” — intellectuals, former government officials and Buddhist
monks — were murdered.
1992-1995, “The Bosnian Genocide” by Bosnian Serbs, during which more
than 200,000 Bosnian Muslims were systematically murdered, men and
boys were deported to concentration camps and civilians were gunned
down by snipers in the city of Sarajevo.
1994, “The Rwanda Genocide,” during which Hutu militia, armed
with machetes, started a campaign of murder of the ethnic Tutsi
population. One-tenth of the country’s population — an estimated
800,000 people — was murdered during the campaign of terror.
2003-today, “The Darfur Genocide” by the Sudanese government
and a militia group known as “Janjaweed.” Since February 2003,
government-sponsored militias have conducted a calculated campaign
of slaughter, rape, starvation and displacement against the African
population of Darfur. It is estimated that 400,000 people have died
due to violence, starvation and disease, that more than 2.5 million
have been displaced and about 200,000 have fled the border to Chad.
The Journey for Humanity cross-country trek hopes to make people
aware of such crimes against mankind, but also of the denial of
genocide. Edward said, “The Armenian genocide is being denied, even
91 years later.”
Although many countries around the world have declared the mass
murders, rapes, torture and mutilations in Armenia genocide, the
current Turkish government denies that a genocide occurred.
The United States and President George W. Bush have declared the
situation in Darfur as “genocide.”
Vahe said that too many people feel that, “the crimes are too far from
us. It doesn’t affect us. But as human beings, everyone is either a
victim or a survivor of crimes against humanity.”
He continued, “We have to realize as we enjoy our homes and our
families, that people are being killed.”
Hosmig said that complacency and not standing up against genocide
allows it to continue to happen.
What can someone half-a-world away from genocide do about it? It’s the
people’s responsibility, Hosmig said, to elect only public officials
who stand up against genocide, and support legislation that recognizes
the atrocities of genocide, such as:
H.Con.Res. 19 in 2005, which called for the United States to observe
the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz (January, 2005)
and honor all victims of the Holocaust. It also called for teachers
to educate students about Auschwitz and stress the importance of the
collective responsibility of humanity to ensure that what happened
at Nazi death camps is never allowed to happen again.
H.Con.Res. 146 in 2005, which honors the victims of the Cambodian
genocide and welcomes the establishment of an international criminal
tribunal to bring its perpetrators to justice.
H.Con.Res. 195 in 2005, which commemorates the victims of the Armenian
Genocide and calls for the government of the Republic of Turkey to
acknowledge the culpability of its predecessor state, the Ottoman
Empire, for the genocide.
House Resolution 3127, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of
2006, in which Congress calls events unfolding in Darfur genocidal
and recognizes the need for U.S. and international involvement in
Darfur. In April, 2006, the resolution was received in the Senate
and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Edward said that he and his fellow walkers have received a variety of
responses to their project. “Lots are appalled, and want to learn how
to help,” he said. “Some are indifferent. But part of indifference
is just not knowing, and that is what our project is about.”
A media kit provided by the walkers quotes Martin Luther King Jr.,
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Whatever
affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
The walkers’ support bus is emblazoned with the quote by British
statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke: “All that is needed for evil
to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
“Genocide is an important issue,” Ed said. “It deserves more
attention.”
Donate time or money to the cause, Hosmig said. Help fund-raise. Send
web faxes available on the Journey for Humanity Web site:
journeyforhumanity.com
“Do the most simple thing,” she said. “Tell some one.”
“Journey for Humanity” walkers and organizers believe: “Only when
people acknowledge the genocides of the past and really acknowledge
and understand what genocide looks like, is there a possibility of
stopping the current genocides and preventing the next ones.”

OUT OF THE ASHES
By Jeanne McCartin
Portsmouth Herald News, NH
Sept 6 2006
The Haley Farm Gallery is turning its attention toward collective
and individual healing. Its group exhibition “Colors of Healing” will
commemorate the fifth anniversary of 9/11 with images of individuals’,
cities’ and a country’s effort to come to grips with catastrophe.
“I was not on Ground Zero,” says gallery owner Jackie Abramian.
“Others I know traveled there. I never went, probably because as an
Armenian, I’ve had my fill of pictures of genocide and carnage.” And
yet she experienced the horror of that day, as did most in her country
“” the vulnerability, and the sense the world was pulled out from
underneath you, she says. It’s the same feeling individuals experience
when their personal world is torn by tragedy. “Healing” is about both,
dealing collectively and individually with life’s hardest struggles,
says Abramian.
“I think when you stand before these paintings you have no choice but
to stand in honor of those who perished and helped, the survivors
and those that pulled them out. “¦ But, it is a tribute to all
survivors.” And whether the exhibit’s individual works bring the
collective crisis or that of an individual to mind, “It brings the
tragedy home “¦ and just for a moment you can imagine what it was like
for someone to go through such a thing. “¦ It’s also very meditative,
very beautiful.”
Abramian was quite moved when she came across a painting by Christine
Morgan on the Web. “It brings tears to your eyes,” says Abramian. The
image that struck her is of a firefighter’s boots, with a firefighter’s
hat set on top of them, both painted in gray, and staged before an
American flag. It speaks to the individual cost, that of a family,
and underscores a nation’s pain, she says.
Abramian contacted Morgan and said, “I have to have it.” They struck
a deal and the painting will be exhibited, though not for sale.
Prints will be available.
This exhibition “will shake you,” says Abramian, moving on to her
next example, the work of Jean Holabird of New York City. Holabird’s
loft is located a few blocks from the former World Trade Center. “She
had a front seat view of the towers. “¦ She actually witnessed the
towers coming down, she could see them from (her apartment) windows,”
says Abramian. “As a result of the trauma, she needed to paint all
the fear, and the trauma out of her system.”
Ten of her works will be on display. In addition her book, “Out of
the Ruins,” a collection of her paintings coupled with works by 20th
century poets, will be on sale.
The work of artist Madeleine P. Hopkins, of Moody, Maine, will not
focus on 9/11, but on a personal struggle. Her story is amazing,
says Abramian, “a real-life trauma. It could be a movie. “¦ She had
(cerebral hemorrhage), that put her out. She was pregnant. When she
came to, she had a child. She didn’t know the child or those around
her. She couldn’t talk, or move.” Hopkins’ healing process was slow,
Abramian explains. Through it all “she kept drawing and scribbling.”
This personal trauma and 9/11 share a core; everything you know is
gone and you have to rebuild. The healing process is the same, she
says. “It’s why the title of the exhibit is ~PThe Color of Healing.'”
On Sept. 6, Hopkins will read from her book, “Harbinger “” Memories
of Recovery,” at the gallery’s “Tea Time Art,” from 3 to 5 p.m.
Artist Wasan Al Kabi is from Iraq. She and her family fled the country
in 2001, and settled in Amman, where she continues to live.
Kabi will have four pieces in the show. “Why? We see the connection,”
says Abramian. “9/11 brought about the war in Iraq. It’s not just
New York City. It’s not just about America. It went global. These
paintings, by an Iraq woman are somber, are relevant. They’re
desperate, in response to 9/11.” The show will also include works by
Ann Legg of, Kennebunkport Maine, and by Ross Saryan of Armenia.
During the “Colors of Healing” opening reception an ongoing slide show
of Ground Zero shot by Michael Clark of Bath, Maine, was displayed. A
firefighter with special task force training, Clark was sent to assist
at Ground Zero the day of the attack. Both he and Peter Johnson of
Kittery, who helped transport people after the attack, will be honored
the day before during a private reception at the gallery.
Haley Farm will have additional related events during the exhibition.
On Sept. 9 there will be a panel discussion, “Surviving Trauma,” from
3 to 5 p.m. Brown University professors of psychology, Dr. Vitali
Ianko (researcher of post-traumatic stress and author) and Dr. Anait
Azarian (clinical psychologist) will present and discuss their work
with children survivors of the 1988 earthquake in Armenia, and 9/11
in New York City. They will share a collection of children’s artwork
created before and after therapy.
On Sept. 23, poets Robert Gibbons, John Perrault and Cicely Buckley
will read from the anthology “The Other Side of Sorrow,” from 3 to
5 p.m.
Abramian says she has no profound words for describing the show;
rather she wants to step aside and let it be said by the artists who
have tried to find ways to heal from personal and global tragedy.
“This is not a political exhibit. It’s one of reflection and
questions. What are the lessons we’ve learned? Have we learned
anything? Maybe we have. It’s a collective healing process we have
to go through. What better way than the visual art.”
What: Colors of Healing: Lessons from 9/11, five years later Where:
Haley Farm Gallery 178 Haley Road, Kittery, Maine When: through Oct. 5,
regular gallery hours Wednesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
Sundays by chance or by appointment.
Contact: (207) 439-2669, [email protected],
–Boundary_(ID_CtKiRw7Con2my /Z49PWusw)–

WORLD BANK SAYS GEORGIA TOP REFORMER, ARMENIA AHEAD IN EASE-OF-DOING-BUSINESS
Civil Georgia, Georgia
Sept 6 2006
6 September 2006 – Georgia is ranked 37th in the world in terms of
the ease-of-doing-business index, according to the World Bank’s report
Doing Business 2007: How to Reform.
Georgia placed 100th in last year’s report, and the drastic improvement
in 2006 makes Georgia the top reformer of the year.
According to the report, Georgia made more progress than any other
country in the world through the introduction of flexible labor rules
and other reforms.
The report provides a global ranking of 175 economies on key business
regulations and reforms.
The report notes that social security contributions paid by businesses
in Georgia decreased from 31% of wages to 20%, making it easier for
employers to hire new workers, while the collection of corporate
taxes increased by 300%.
Romania and Mexico came in second and third, respectively, in terms
of reforms aimed at easing business.
>>From the CIS countries only Armenia, which is ranked 34th in the
report, is ahead of Georgia in the ease-of-doing-business index.

EURO MPS MAKE NEW TURKEY DEMANDS
BBC
Tuesday, 5 September 2006
Some EU leaders are lukewarm about Turkey’s bid
European MPs have criticised Turkey’s slow pace of reform and said
it should recognise the massacre of Armenians in 1915 as genocide
before joining the EU.
The European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee members also
urged more guarantees of freedom of expression and religion.
Turkey began EU membership talks last year and its progress will be
assessed by the European Commission in October.
It denies the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians was
genocide.
The report by the European Parliament foreign affairs committee will
be voted by the whole parliament later this month.
It insists there are “persistent shortcomings” in areas such as freedom
of expression, as well as religious, minority and women’s rights.
‘Politically biased’
The Turkish foreign ministry responded by saying that elements of the
report lacked realism, were politically biased, and set conditions
for membership that were anything but objective.
Armenians say 1.5 million of their people were massacred by Turkish
troops as part of efforts to drive them out of eastern Turkey in 1915.
Ankara has always denied this was genocide, and insists the number
of Armenian deaths has been exaggerated.
The EU enlargement commissioner has already warned of the potential
failure of Ankara’s membership bid, the BBC’s Alex Kroeger reports
from Strasbourg.
The MEPs’ report says that accession negotiations could even come to
a halt.
The parliamentary rapporteur on Turkey, Dutch MEP Camille Eurlings,
called the slowdown in reform regrettable and urged Turkey to make
progress.
If there was no progress, he said, stagnation would mean regression.

EU STALLS ON CYPRUS TO KEEP TURKEY TALKS ALIVE
By Daniel Dombey and George Parker in Brussels and Vincent Boland in Ankara
FT
September 5 2006 17:19
Brussels is seeking to prevent a complete breakdown in Turkey’s
43-year-quest to join the European Union by deferring one of the most
explosive issues until after the country’s elections next year.
Officials fear that with the pace of reform slowing in Turkey
and worries continuing within the EU about further enlargement,
Turkey’s membership talks might never start again if they were to stop
now. But a dispute with Cyprus, which is an EU member state but is not
recognised by Turkey, threatens to bring the whole process to a halt.
“We need a plan B to limit the damage and avoid a complete suspension
of negotiations, because that would kill the momentum,” said a senior
Commission official. “We have to find ways and means to muddle through
until after the Turkish elections.”
The EU has given Ankara a deadline of the end of this year to open
up its ports and airports to Cyprus. But Turkey has declared it has
no intention of doing so, because of the EU’s failure to end the
isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community in the north of the island.
President Jacques Chirac of France has warned Turkey that membership
talks will be jeopardised if Ankara fails to comply with the EU’s
demand. Although the Commission hopes that only talks on related
issues will be affected, Cyprus has made clear its plans to veto all
further stages of the negotiations unless Turkey opens up its ports.
As concern mounts within the EU that the suspension of Ankara’s
negotiations could prove disastrous for the country’s ties with the
west, Olli Rehn, the EU’s enlargement commissioner, is seeking to
persuade both Turkey and Cyprus to hand the ports case to the European
Court of Justice.
That way, the Commission believes, the issue could be put on ice
until after Turkey’s parliamentary elections next year, when both
sides Turkey would have more scope to negotiate.
Officials in Ankara had no immediate comment on the Commission’s
initiative.
But diplomats said Turkey would be reluctant to refer the case to
the courts. EU officials add that it is overwhelmingly likely to
lose any case. Cyprus is also resisting such a course of action,
since it would water down the EU’s demand that Turkey act this year.
The Commission hopes that pressure from the EU’s three big powers –
France, Germany and the UK – will push both sides to agree to scale
down the dispute.
Other attempts to defuse the tension, notably EU-sponsored talks
between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, have failed. Greek Cypriot
objections have also prevented the EU’s fulfilling a promise to allow
northern Cyprus to trade directly with the rest of the EU.
Yesterday Ankara rejected a demand by the European parliament that
it recognise the mass killings of Armenians during the first world
war as genocide.
Turkey rejects the charge. Recep Tayyip Erdo­gan, the prime
minister, said: “Our position regarding the so-called Armenian genocide
is very clear, and nobody should expect us to change it.”

NOR JAMANAKNER IS READY TO UNITE
Lragir.am
05 Sept 06
Nor Jamanakner Party will cooperate with all the political parties
in the next election which will act against the criminal, stated the
leader of the party Aram Karapetyan September 5 at the Pakagits Club.
“There is no problem of format of running in the election but we are
ready to cooperate with all the political forces which are against
the entrance of the criminal into politics,” said Aram Karapetyan. He
said all the opposition parties should come together with the slogan
“politics without criminal”.
Aram Karapetyan also said anti-Russian moods are gathering momentum
in the country which is determined by both the violence against
Armenians in Moscow and failure of the Property for Debt deal. But
Aram Karapetyan also said that the anti-Russian moods are also kindled
by the fact that Russia supported the present government of Armenia
under which the state of the people did not improve.

HERE THE SOCIETY DEMANDS FACTS
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir.am
06 Sept 06
The political forces were expected to fight hard to head the hot fall
race but the contrary happened. Robert Kocharyan set out the first,
however, who had an almost unexpected visit to the regions of Vayots
Dzor and Syunik. The society had not realized the aim and importance
of the visit when the president visited the region of Aragatsotn,
and several other media besides the news program of H1 Channel had the
chance to go with the president. Kocharyan’s slogan of this fall start
can be considered the idea, which sounded in the TV report on the visit
to Syunik and Vayots Dzor – the president promises that there will be
more unexpected visits and more often. These are visits when nobody
knows that the president is coming, and the president gives a surprise
to everyone not to let them take their time to hide the drawbacks.
Robert Kocharyan thought it out well. Not only for detecting drawbacks
but also for the regions in general. He wants to show that he controls
the situation, not only in Yerevan but also in the regions. In
other words, he is the president of entire Armenia. And perhaps the
unexpected visits are intended to find out whether the photo of Serge
Sargsyan is already hanging in the office of one governor or another
instead of his photo. And perhaps in this sense it was not accidental
that the first unexpected visit of the president was to the region
of Syunik. It is difficult to say that everything was alright there,
but as the governor was not dismissed, it means that Robert Kocharyan
became convinced that the picture was in its right place. But it is
interesting to know if he is convinced that his visit was a surprise.
It is possible that it was not because after Syunik the visit to
Aragatsotn was not a surprise. Why? Or did Robert Kocharyan have
suspicions over Syunik only? In Aragatsotn the governor is a Dashnak,
and perhaps the president does not even doubt that ARF Dashnaktsutyun
would never hang the picture of Serge Sargsyan. Robert Kocharyan
believes that Dashnaktsutyun would hang Serge Sargsyan rather than
his photo. Presently, however, the president should be more skeptical,
or either believe in everything or not believe anything.
The situation in Armenia is a little different from the standard,
consequently old friends may act differently, even if they leave
the old pictures on the walls. Dashnaktsutyun does not fear the old,
it fears the new. And when Dashnaktsutyun fears, they do not think
about overcoming fear, they start loving fear in themselves.
For this reason, Robert Kocharyan should pay less attention to pictures
and attend to people more often. And people expect jobs and change
of the situation rather than unexpected visits to the regions.
Moreover, they want facts. In normal countries, the government provides
facts to the society to get their votes later. Maybe Robert Kocharyan
does not need the vote of the public anymore, so he wants facts. But
in this case the president should know that the public does not need
him anymore and it becomes pointless to provide facts to him.

CAR OF HEAD OF INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT WAS BLOWN UP
Lragir.am
06 Sept 06
On September 6 the head of the Department of Investigation of the Tax
Agency Shahen Hovasapyan was killed in a car explosion in the center
of Yerevan . The Lragir has learned that the accident happened around
10 o’clock in the morning, on Byron Street. Shahen Hovasapyan’s car
was blown up. Hovasapyan died, the driver is badly wounded.
Over the past 4 years Shahen Hovasapyan, 48 was the head of the
Department of Investigation of the Tax Agency, in other words, the tax
police. Before that he was the head of the Department of Big Taxpayers,
the Ministry of State Receipts.
On September 6 the police of Armenia made a statement on the
assassination of the head of the Department of Investigation of the
Tax Agency Shahen Hovasapyan. Legal proceedings were instituted under
Article 402 Murder of the Crime Code of Armenia. The motives of the
murder are not known yet.