Author: Emil Lazarian

Tucson Weekly, AZ
July 14 2004
Melding of Musicians
Jesse Cook travels to multiple continents for collaborators on his
latest album
By JOAN SCHUMAN

Jesse Cook

I’ve almost burnt a hole in Jesse Cook’s newest CD, returning again
and again to the seamless transition between the first and second
tracks.
“Prelude” slams into “Qadukka-l-Mayyas” with a punch of violins and
cymbals and deep, deep drums banging against each other before Cook’s
signature flamenco guitar bursts forth. And then, 25 seconds into the
second track, Maryem Tollar blares the lyrics of this traditional
Andalusian tune in a subterranean alto. An Egyptian string ensemble
headed by Hossam Ramzy in Cairo is responsible for haunting threads,
while back home in Toronto, Cook has enlisted Chris Church to
electrify the violin on the first track.
“It didn’t start as a master plan,” explains Cook of his aptly dubbed
fifth album, Nomad. We spoke by phone between gigs on his 14-city
U.S./Canada tour, which brings him and his Toronto-based band through
Tucson on July 24.
“I usually record at home in my own little studio. I tend to do all
the writing, arranging and producing myself. But I wanted to be far
enough away to get perspective.”
Cook was determined not to let distance drag down his dream of
incorporating musicians on several continents into the 12 tracks that
make up his Juno (Canada’s Grammy equivalent) award-winning album.
“I also was dying to work with Simon (Emmerson) of the Afro Celt
Sound System. So we called him in London and he loved the idea. He’s
the one who introduced me to Hossam who said, ‘Man, you need some
strings on here.'”
In the end, Cook grabbed musicians from London, Madrid, Cairo,
Toronto, Nova Scotia and, in the States, Milwaukee, Austin and Los
Angeles.
Paris-born and Toronto-raised, Cook already had four albums under his
belt before embarking on his latest project. Since 1995, he’s
produced CDs that have soared to the top of Billboard’s World Music
charts in the United States and gone gold in Canada–albums with
quirky one-word titles mostly on the Narada label (Tempest in 1995;
Gravity a year later; Vertigo in 1998; and finally Freefall in 2000).
His last two albums featured musicians from further reaches–like
Djivan Gasparyan (dubbed the god of Armenian Duduk) and Danny Wilde
of the Rembrandts, among others.
The Gypsy Kings influence is noticeable, as are hues of the Afro
Celts’ arrangement. At Narada, he shares a lineup with a litany of
world musicians including Lila Downs, Shelia Chandra, Jai Uttal and
Baka Beyond–all mavericks fusing their own styles into new genres.
Danny Wilde comes back for a cameo on Nomad, and Cook’s masterful
guitar yields its fiery, familiar taste–a smorgasbord of expressive
rumba and flamenco arrangements–a gypsy amalgam if there ever was
one.
“Montsé Cortés is a legend in gypsy music,” Cook says, discussing the
singer’s willingness to lend her vocals to “Toca Orilla,” the last
track on Nomad.
“Gypsy is a very guarded music. Sharing it with a foreigner like
me–a mungicake–is amazing,” concedes Cook of his admittedly “white
bread” status.
As for any fears of putting together an album with musicians living
far away from each other, Cook says it wasn’t that difficult.
“Hossam invited me to stay in his Cairo apartment, and it just
snowballed from there. It made sense to contact my vocalist friend
Maryem, who happened to be in Egypt at the time. She actually lives
three blocks away from me here in Toronto,” he adds with a chuckle.
“Once you get the travel bug, it’s pretty easy to just grab the
laptop and go. It’s amazing. I was flying home from Europe and I’m
mixing with 64 tracks on my Mac right there in row 13.”
He’s quick to add, “Just because you have the capability of recording
on the fly and have access to these tools, it doesn’t mean everyone
can be a producer. Remember, it’s in the ears.”
Going to where the musicians live is crucial, says Cook. “I’m not
sure you get the best take when musicians aren’t at home. In their
own space, they’re in the groove.”
The liner notes to Nomad hint at adjustments, however. Cook sprinkles
in bits and pieces of his album journal.
Cairo, January 11, 2003, 3:15: One of the violinists has arrived. The
first musician to show for a 2 p.m. call. Cairo time. Got to love it.
“I expected to have a hard time due to my Western origins. They all
thought I was from the States. I expected more hostility, post-Sept.
11. But people were great,” says Cook about his hosts. “I guess
politics operate above humanity.”
Nomad isn’t just different from Cook’s other albums for its melding
of musicians.
“Most of my previous music is instrumental. But I knew I wanted
lyrics and singing on this album. So, scary as it was, I made a demo
so I could generate interest in this project. It’s really awful, if
you’ve ever heard me sing. You begin to understand what a great
singer can do for a song–it makes it or breaks it.”
So, Cook wrote the tune for Montsé Cortés in her range. But he took a
different tact for Brazilian singer Flora Purim.
“I was just writing another version of ‘Girl from Ipanema,’ and then,
ironically, her CDs just flew across my desk and the project clicked.
I went to L.A. to record her voice tracks.”
Liner notes expand on his process for Purim’s track, titled “Maybe.”
It’s not so much Bossa Nova as it is Brazilian samba meets rumba
flamenco.
“I love eclecticism,” says Cook. “Finding a flow is important and a
bit of a trick. Basically, all the tunes are rumbas. The guitar is
front and center, chugging away.”
He adds, “I think people are obsessed with division–culturally,
spiritually and musically. For me as a musician, the similarities are
far greater than the differences. In Tibet, for example, when we
played there, it didn’t matter what language we were singing in or
even talking in. It’s the music that’s the universal language. Boy,
that sounds clichéd. But it’s true.”
For Cook, it’s all music from the planet Earth.
When I asked him to describe contemporary music in one sentence, he
responded quickly.
“It’s music of the next millennium. Our travel time is shorter now,
though we cover great distances, compared to say, France in the 18th
century. It changes how we listen. So, Britney Spears now has a
Bollywood string riff, and people don’t hear it as such. They just
hear that they like it.”
Yet with the shrinking of travel time and the ubiquitous ability to
taste everything, Cook says the business of musical genres and
audience promotion is slower to catch on.
“Here in Canada, the CD went gold. In the States, it’s more of an
underground following. Is it the music business or a cultural thing?
I don’t know. Some songs did quite well, even charted on the radio.
But not in the States. Oddly, “Qadukka-l-Mayyas” charted in the
United Arab Emirates.”
With all this globalism, Cook says he had the hardest time,
ironically, working with one musician closer by in the States.
“Once I decided I wanted to work with the BoDeans on the track ‘Early
on Tuesday,’ I went looking for Kurt Neumann in Austin. We made all
the arrangements, and I’m about to leave Toronto, and the SARS scare
hit. Kurt cancels, saying we all had cooties up here,” Cook quips.
“I spent a good deal of time convincing him that we’re all OK. No one
I knew had gotten sick–it’s a big city, you know. But Kurt wasn’t
taking any chances. The running joke later was that I’d be somewhere
in the States working, and I’d call Kurt in Austin just to tell him I
was doing OK.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
The Age, Australia
July 15 2004
D-Day for accused Olympic athletes
Friday is D-Day for two Australian Olympic athletes accused of drug
offences.
Weightlifter Caroline Pileggi will learn whether her appeal against
being dumped from the Athens Games is successful, and cyclist Jobie
Dajka is expecting to learn the outcome of police investigations into
him.
Accused cyclist Sean Eadie, meanwhile, will have a nervous weekend.
His appeal against a drugs infraction notice for allegedly importing
banned human growth hormones will be heard in the Court of
Arbitration for Sport in Sydney on Monday evening.
Pileggi, who was to have been Australia’s first Olympic female
weightlifter, was dropped from the Athens team after refusing a drugs
test in Fiji in June.
But she told the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Melbourne that
she fled from two drug testing officials in Sigatoka, Fiji, because
she did not know who they were.
“I didn’t feel safe,” she told the tribunal.
One of the New Zealand testing officials, acting on behalf of the
Australian Sports Drug Agency (ASDA), later admitted that he was not
familiar with the regulations and had not correctly identified
himself at their first meeting.
He also said he had not followed the correct procedure for signing
the form.
“The circumstances were less than ideal,” Vaughan Jones told senior
Tribunal member Narelle Bell.
Dajka expects to know the outcome of police investigations into his
case, including possible links with an Adelaide veterinarian.
Dajka, 22, has had his nomination for the Athens team suspended
pending police inquiries and continuing investigations by former WA
Supreme Court judge Robert Anderson, QC.
The clock is ticking on a number of other matters which need to be
resolved before the July 21 deadline for finalising Australia’s
Athens team, expected to number 475.
These include:
+ A Customs check on all potential Athens team members to determine
whether any of them may have been involved in importing banned
substances. The Australian Sports Commission expects results on
Friday. These will be forwarded to the Australian Olympic Committee,
which is waiting to finalise the team.
+ The result of a drugs test on former Armenian weightlifter Sergo
Chakhoyan. Chakhoyan, who served a two-year suspension after testing
positive at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane in 2001, was recently
tested in Armenia. A spokesman for the ASDA said the outcome was
expected in the next few days.
+ The outcome of four appeals by track and field athletes who missed
out on selection – Patrick Johnson (100m, 200m), Tim Williams (4x100m
relay), Annabelle Smith (400m), and Paul Pearce (4x400m relay). The
appeal will be heard in Sydney on Friday and the results are expected
on the day.
Mountain biker Josh Fleming was added to the Athens team after
successfully appealing his original non-selection.
Cycling Australia’s appeals tribunal found that the selection
criteria had been incorrectly applied.
Fleming, 28, replaces South Australian Chris Jongewaard, 24.

Sierra Sun, CA
July 15 2004
McIver dies at 95
Azad “Victoria” McIver, possibly one of Truckee’s most local locals,
passed away Tuesday, July 13 at the age of 95.
Born Azad Josepian in Harpoot, Armenia, in 1908, McIver survived the
Armenian genocide and left her homeland at age 6. In 1922 she came to
Truckee at age 14 with her older sister, Roxie, to meet up with their
brother, Richard, who came to town in 1916.
McIver attended grammar school at the old school house on Church
Street. She worked as a waitress at the Pastime in downtown Truckee
for nine years. McIver’s brother owned the Pastime, Manstyle Barbers
and the Donner Hotel, in addition to many acres of land in Truckee at
the time.
While working at the Pastime, McIver met her late husband, Jim
McIver, a local blacksmith who delivered mail to Tahoe City. They
were married Aug. 10, 1944 in Reno.
In 1949, McIver’s brother donated land and resources to help build
Tahoe Forest Hospital. As the beneficiary of her since-deceased
brother’s estate, McIver donated land for the hospital’s expansion in
1997.
McIver was preceded in death by her sister, Roxie, brother, Richard,
husband, Jim, and many other Truckee locals whom she called friends
and family. McIver is survived by many friends and family in Truckee
and surrounding areas.
Services for McIver were held Thursday, July 15. See Sierra Sun’s
July 21 midweek edition for more on the life of Azad “Victoria”
McIver.

Armenianow.com
July 16, 2004
Cool Relief: Armenian summer melts under 14 factories of ice cream
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
With temperatures rising toward the dreaded 40-degree (104 Fahrenheit) mark
of recent summers, Armenians look for relief from a source once only dreamed
of: Real ice cream.
In the hard years of 1988-93, mothers tried to pacify children with
home-made versions of ice cream that rarely came close to the real thing.
14 companies produce “baghbaghak” in Armenia.
“I have a special notebook where all my ice cream recipes are written, but
however hard I tried still my children were saying it doesn’t taste like the
ice cream in stores,” says Nazeni Mkrtumyan, a housewife.
Today, however, 14 companies produce ice cream in Armenia.
“In summer, about 40 percent of our daily income comes from selling ice
cream, and Tamara and Ashtarak Kat are selling the best,” says the manager
of Milena store Artur Minasyan.
Tamara, in 1992, was the first company to start producing ice cream after
independence, but its quality was far from today’s standards. (During Soviet
times there were three-four types of ice cream in Armenia, but none as good
as today’s quality).
In 1995 Ashtarak Kat entered the market, followed by the rest that today
offer an unimagined paradise of cold sweets.
All the selection of ice cream producing companies in Armenia was thoroughly
studied by Anna National Association of Consumers in 2003. According to the
president of the association Melita Hakobyan, the research that lasted 6
months included a market study, monitoring, sociological poll carried out
among 1,000 people, tests done in 4 laboratories and tasting by an 11-member
panel of specialists.
The poll found that about 40 percent of consumers prefer Ashtarak Kat; 30
percent, Tamara; about 20-25 percent favor Shant, while the other 11
companies (ASA, Grand Candy, Yerevan Penguin and others) get only seven
percent of the market.
“Our next most important step was laboratory tests which were carried out at
3 laboratories accredited by the RA Accreditation Council and at one
inspection laboratory which has all the modern facilities and which we
trust,” says Hakobyan.
After laboratory tests, tasting and visits to plants the committee gave 98
points (on a 100 scale) to Ashtarak Kat, 94 to Shant, 82 to Shant, 81 to
Grand Candy. The rest did not score 80 points, which means they fall below
acceptable standards
Samples of different ice creams were taken from the city’s different
communities. In the center 85 percent of ice cream corresponded to its
expiration date. In the suburbs, however, 25 percent of ice cream was found
to violate health standards (such as being kept with other food products, or
stored above accepted temperatures).
Some companies weren’t happy with Hakobyan’s assessment of their product.
Often, in order to save electricity, sellers turn off refrigerators during
the night. But according to specialists, re-freezing ice cream can create
bacteria that lead to illness.
Hakobyan, herself, became a victim of bad ice cream during the testing.
“I was getting treatment for a month, feeling for myself the situation of
over 100 consumers who applied to us with complaints; who have had various
poisonings and diseases because of bad quality ice cream,” she says.
Besides suffering health damage as a result of these tests, president of the
association Hakobyan, also suffered moral and psychological pressure. After
several TV programs during which together with members of the committee,
Melita Hakobyan presented results of the research, she was receiving many
threatening phone calls.
“They (ice cream companies) would call a lot and say ‘We’ll destroy you, we’
re coming now with our guns’ and so on, and I was telling them not to
bother, that I shall go to them myself, I have nothing to be afraid of, I
only now that there’s a product that is a threat to people’s health and I
consider it my duty to warn the consumer about it,” assures Hakobyan.
Together with Armenian ice cream producing companies today, there’s also the
ice cream of Algida company. According to the manager of importing company
Cleopatra Anahit Dervishyan, this kind of ice cream is not a competitor to
the local production.
“Of course, I’m not saying that Algida is so good that they cannot compete
with it, our local ones are very good, too, but Algida has totally different
taste peculiarities and is made with other technology and raw material,”
says Dervishyan.
>From the freezer to the waistline?
Algida is produced in 150 countries, but is imported into Armenia from
Trabzon, Turkey.
This brand of ice cream was also tested by the National Association of
Consumers. Unlike the local brands, Algida is the only one with packaging
that fully corresponds to the law, by listing in detail the ingredients.
Among the ingredients are preservatives not found in the local product. If
local ice creams can be kept from 4 to 5 months, Algida can be kept a year
and a half.
Prices of Armenian-produced ice cream bars range from 50 drams (about 10
cents) to 450 (about 90 cents).
According to saleswoman Naira Muradyan most of her customers prefer local
ice cream. According to her, children who often don’t have a lot of money
buy cheaper ice cream, like ASA, or Grand Candy, and the adults mainly buy
Ashtarak Kat or Tamara.
“It has often happened that a child asked the parent to buy Algida but the
parent refused, saying that it’s Turkish,” says Muradyan. “But it’s not the
child’s fault, it really is very tasty, but not as good as our Tamara,”
continues the young saleswoman jokingly and enjoys the cold ice cream
covered with chocolate.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEW IRANIAN AMBASSADOR HANDS CREDENTIAL TO KOCHARIAN
YEREVAN, JULY 14, ARMENPRESS: Ali Reza Haqiqian, the newly
appointed ambassador of Iran to Armenia, handed today his credentials
over to president Kocharian. Kocharian’s press office said the new
ambassador conveyed the warm greetings of Iranian president Mohammad
Khatami to Kocharian. The ambassador was quoted as saying that Iran
appreciates highly Armenian president for keeping the bilateral
relations in the focus of his attention. He also added that
Kocharian’s visit to Iran in 2001 is perceived in Iran as a turning
point in mutually beneficial cooperation.
Congratulating the ambassador on taking a new tenure president
Kocharian said the ambassador received a serious legacy. He also
assessed the current level of diverse Iranian-Armenian relations
positively, saying they should be developed further. He said
concurrently with active political contacts economic interaction is
moving towards a qualitatively new phase, encompassing infrastructure
development with several major projects underway.
The new ambassador said he will exert all efforts to see all
majorjoint projects materialized. The two men also said the upcoming
visit of Iranian president to Armenia in autumn will give a serious
boost to bilateral relations. Also regional issues, the Karabagh
conflict regulation were discussed. Iran-Armenia relations were
considered a weighty factor for regional stability and peace.

Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th Street NW Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet:
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 13, 2004
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
ANCA JOINS WASHINGTON, DC PROTEST TO STOP GENOCIDE IN SUDAN
— New York Congressman Charles Rangel Arrested
during Demonstration at Sudanese Embassy
“When human lives are in jeopardy, there should be outrage”
— Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY)
WASHINGTON, DC – Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
staff and activists joined with Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY)
and leading African American and human rights activists at a
demonstration today outside the Sudanese Embassy calling for U.S.
and international pressure to end the genocide in the Darfur region
of Sudan.
The protest, organized by the Sudan Campaign, featured the arrest
of Congressman Rangel, a senior New York legislator who serves as
the Ranking Member on the influential U.S. House Ways & Means
Committee. He was arrested for trespassing by the police after
stepping to the door of the Embassy. He was released within hours
from a Washington, DC jail after paying bail of fifty dollars.
ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian, Government Affairs Director
Abraham Niziblian and the ANCA “Leo Sarkisian” Internship program
participants, led by Director Arsineh Khachikian, joined the noon-
time protest which included some hundred and fifty activists and
representatives from a diverse coalition of Sudan Campaign partner
organizations including the Congressional Black Caucus, Center for
Religious Freedom at Freedom House, Institute on Religion and
Democracy, American Anti-slavery group, Wilberforce Project, and
Christian Solidarity International, among others.
“We marched today, in the name of all Armenians, to do our part to
help end the cycle of genocide,” said Hamparian. “As the
descendents of survivors of the Armenian Genocide, we bear a
special burden to fight intolerance and to demand moral leadership
– and decisive action – from our government to prevent hundreds of
thousands of deaths in Darfur.”
During the demonstration, Niziblian, in an interview with the
Associated Press (AP), was quoted as saying that, “A lot more
people should be protesting and taking to the streets now.” This
AP report, along with several photos from the demonstration, have
since appeared in New York NewsDay, CBS News wire, and a host of
other publications and media outlets. Significantly, the lead AP
photo featured Congressman Rangel, in handcuffs, being escorted by
police with an “Armenians against Genocide” poster in the
background.
The Sudan Campaign is led by Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy, co-founder of
the Congressional Black Caucus, and Joe Madison, a civil rights
activist and radio personality in the Greater Washington, DC area.
The group has been holding noon-time protests in front of the
Sudanese Embassy for the past month, during which several leading
human and civil rights activists have been arrested.
Speaking to the protestors prior to his arrest, Congressman Rangel
said, “When human lives are in jeopardy, there should be outrage.”
During his remarks, Madison announced that he is launching a hunger
strike until the Sudanese government takes action to end the
obstruction of humanitarian assistance from reaching hundreds of
thousands in need in Darfur.
On Wednesday, July 14th, Robert Edgar, a former member of Congress
and the current president of the National Council of Churches, will
be arrested in front of the Sudanese Embassy. Similar protests are
planned in Boston, New York, San Antonio, San Diego and Toronto.
Over the past month, the ANCA has called attention to the
atrocities in Sudan through a series of letters to Congressional
offices, urging them to take a stand to stop the cycle of genocide
through support of Congressional initiatives regarding Sudan as
well as for the Genocide Resolution (H.Res.193, S.Res.164), which
reaffirms U.S. commitment to the principles of the Genocide
Convention. On June 23rd, Niziblian participated in a press
conference organized by the Congressional Black Caucus and Africa
Action. The ANCA has urged Armenian Americans to add their names
to the Africa Action petition drive for Sudan, by visiting
Some 30,000 have already perished over the past 18 months in
Darfur, Sudan, with approximately one million forced to flee their
homes. If the Sudanese government does not take action to allow
the distribution of international humanitarian assistance, the
death toll could rise to 350,000, according to conservative
estimates.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

allAfrica.com
$200 for Winners
New Vision (Kampala)
July 13, 2004
Posted to the web July 13, 2004
Phillip Corry
Kampala
UGANDA’s Davis Cup tennis team will earn $200(sh0.35m) if they beat Rwanda
in their Euro/Africa Group IV qualifiers in Moldova.
“Please beat Rwanda and I will give the entire team $200 for that,” John
Nagenda, presidential advisor on media and public relations said while
seeing off the team at Mosa Courts. “I wish you well. Carry the national
flag with pride.”
The team was hosted by sponsors Mosa Court apartments. Celtel Uganda, Jesa
Dairy Farm, and CAA are the other sponsors.
Other companies that helped them in their cause include MTN Uganda, UTL
Uganda, Spear Motors, Ultimate Security, NCS and MOES.
The team left on Saturday for Moldova where they play in the Euro/Africa
Group IV qualifiers.
They will compete against Armenia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Botswana, Malta,
Mauritius, Moldova and Rwanda.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia and Cyprus to boost cooperation in health sphere
Arminfo
13 Jul 04
YEREVAN
Armenian ambassador to Greece, and concurrently to Cyprus, Vagram
Kazhoyan visited Cyprus on 5 July.
The press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told Arminfo news
agency that during the visit the Armenian diplomat and Cyprus’s health
minister, Akel Akkelidhou, signed an agreement in Nicosia on
cooperation between the Armenian government and Cyprus in the health
and medical spheres. Within the framework of the agreement Cyprus will
present to the Armenian Health and Defence Ministries drugs and also
an apparatus called Fresenius for regulating and ensuring blood
circulation during heart surgery which will be given to a hospital in
Armenia in the nearest future.
An agreement on charitable acts was signed during the Armenian
ambassador’s previous visits. Within the framework of the visit
Kazhoyan met Minister of Education and Culture Pevkios
Yeoryiadhis. The sides discussed the signing a programme On
cooperation between Armenia and Cyprus for 2004-2007 in the spheres of
education, science, culture and youth and sport and also prospects of
developing cooperation in the sphere of education.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
July 13, 2004 Tuesday
Russian market promising for Armenian producers – premier
By Susanna Adamyants, Alexandra Urusova
MOSCOW
The Russian market is the most promising for Armenian producers,
Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan said in Moscow on Tuesday.
He said the Armenia pavilion at the All-Russia Exhibition Center had
helped to increase bilateral trade by $5 million.
“Energetic efforts are being taken to upgrade trade and economic
cooperation to the level of political partnership,” Margaryan said.
The Armenian premier had negotiations with his Russian counterpart
Mikhail Fradkov.

Armen Press
July 12 2004
OSCE ACTS BEYOND FRAMES OF RESPONSIBILITIES, ARMENIAN OFFICIAL SAYS
YEREVAN, JULY 12, ARMENPRESS: A deputy parliament chairman Vahan
Hovhanesian from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) argued
today that Armenia has joined Russia and seven other ex-Soviet states
to accuse the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) of unjustly interference into their domestic affairs because
of the OSCE decreasing role in handling international issues. “The
responsibilities assigned to the OSCE are successfully carried out by
other international organizations, a clear indication of the falling
role of the OSCE,” he said.
In a joint statement ex-Soviet countries said last week that in
part the OSCE does not respect such fundamental principles as
non-interference in internal affairs and respect of national
sovereignty by meddling into their domestic affairs. The statement
was signed by Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova,
Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Georgia, Azerbaijan and
Turkmenistan refused to sign it.
Vahan Hovhanesian went on to argue that there is no now such a
problem that would require the OSCE’s joint efforts and therefore the
organization has to seek new initiatives, which, however, are beyond
its frame of commitments. He also added that Armenia cannot agree
with a motion, put forward by the OSCE leadership that resolutions
can be taken without a consensus.