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.

EDITOR OF IRAVUNK WAS ATTACKED
Lragir.am
06 Sept 06
On September 6 the editor of the Iravunk newspaper Hovik Galajyan
was attacked on leaving his house in the morning. He was attacked
and beaten by two skinheads. Fortunately, our colleague did not get
grave injuries. The readers know Hivik for his sharp and bold reports,
and recently he has been making excellent analyses of the political
life in Armenia, namely the criminal corps and is activities. Most
probably, this was an attempt to scare or warn Hovik.

WE ARE REDUNDANT IN IRAQ, AND NECESSARY IN LEBANON
Lragir.am
06 Sept 06
The question of participation in the UN peacemaking mission in the
south of Lebanon sparked heated debates among the political sets and
experts of almost every country. It is interesting, however, that
the Armenian politicians and the Diasporan lobby are interested in
the participation of Turkey in the peacemaking mission rather than
Armenia. Meanwhile, Armenia’s participation is also an important
problem, which surprisingly did not become a subject of debates, it
rather got an unambiguous answer of the government. The decision of
Armenia is wrong, thinks Vahan Shirkhanyan, who answered the questions
of the Lragir on this topic.
Lragir: Mr. Shirkhanyan, another question added to the foreign
political affairs of Armenia, namely our participation in the UN
peacemaking mission in the south of Lebanon. The question is important
since there is a large Armenian community in Lebanon.
Hence, the question occurs whether Armenia should participate in
the peacemaking mission for the sake of the community or refuse to
participate for the sake of the community. Official Yerevan thinks
it should not participate.
Vahan Shirkhanyan: Kocharyan stated through his speaker that the
mandate is not definite, besides, the participation of Armenia may
be harmful for the Armenians of Lebanon. None of the reasons is
political. First, there were fundamental discussions on the mandate,
and the military units of some countries are already in Lebanon. In
addition, the multi-nation force in Iraq does not have a mandate
and Armenia willingly takes part in the worst disgrace of the modern
history, when a sovereign state is being destroyed, the population
is being slaughtered, the law of nations is being neglected. What is
Armenia doing there? Apparently, the Bush-Blair campaign failed, and
sooner or later they will have to account. Their operation against
Iraq fully “complies” with the definition of aggression in the UN
Resolution 3314.
Lragir: What should Armenia do then?
Vahan Shirkhanyan: Armenia should immediately withdraw from Iraq and
take part in the legal peacemaking effort in Lebanon under the auspices
of the United Nations. Armenia has national interests here – the
large-scale war in the Near East is a direct threat for Armenia. The
Lebanese-Armenian relations were set up and developed in an atmosphere
of friendship, confidence, mutual assistance. Besides, the Armenian
community in Lebanon had a great role in the entire continent bridging
the Armenian communities. Today, like the rest of the country,
the Armenians of Lebanon need protection, and Armenia must take
part in the peacemaking mission with 1000-2000 soldiers. It is true
that unlike Iraq this mission does not enable Kocharyan to “settle”
relations with Bush, but it will be absolutely justified in terms of
political and national questions, regional peace. Hopefully, the UN
will not start fulfilling the will of one of the conflict parties, and
the peacemakers will not be tasked to disarm Hezbollah and close the
Syrian-Lebanese border, otherwise the people of Lebanon, including the
Armenians will be having serious problems with security. Disarmament
and borders are the internal affairs of the Lebanese state, and it
applied to the UN asking to defend it from the Israeli aggression.
Lragir: Mr. Shirkhanyan, most experts connect the Israeli military
action against Hezbollah with the possible U.S. campaign against
Iran. Do you think the U.S. campaign against Iran is possible?
Vahan Shirkhanyan: It is always the strong party that aspired to settle
a political dispute by military means. However, this war will mark
the end of the epoch of the world rule of the United States. At least.
Lragir: And how will the U.S. – Iran clash affect Armenia?
Vahan Shirkhanyan: It will be destructive. Today it is increasingly
becoming apparent that the South Caucasus is repeating the Balcans.
In case sanctions are applied against Iran the fundamental presence
of NATO will be necessary in the South Caucasus. Immediately after
Bryza the secretary general of NATO announces that NATO is ready
to assume the implementation of the resolutions of the UN Security
Council on the settlement of the problem of Karabakh. And it implies
destruction of a defense system, which has been sustaining balance
for over 12 years, great moves of Armenians and Azerbaijanis by a
Yugoslavian scenario. Hence, Armenia remains in the sphere of dangerous
developments, and people who are supposed to attend to the problems
of national security are fighting for the throne, announcing on the
run that the return of the liberated areas would not be harmful for
the security of Karabakh. If this goes on, soon we will be able to
see the crash of the Armenian diplomacy.

ARMENIA IS THE FIRST AMONG CIS COUNTRIES
Lragir.am
06 Sept 06
Armenia is the first among the CIS countries in the final report
of the World Bank and the International Financial Corporation Doing
Business 2007 on simplicity of doing business in 2005 and 2006, reports
ARKA. According to the press release of the International Financial
Corporation, among 175 countries Armenia is 34, Georgia is 37 and
Kazakhstan is 62. Compared with the previous ratings, Armenia went
up by 3 positions, and Georgia “bounced” from the 112 to the 37 place.
The worst indicators are Tajikistan’s and Uzbekistan’s, 133 and 147
respectively.