ISRAELI AMBASSADOR PAYS SECRET VISIT TO ARMENIA
NEWS.am
20:09 / 08/12/2009
Israeli Ambassador to Armenia Shemi Tsur (residence in Israel) is on a
visit to Yerevan. Although the Ambassador has held numerous meetings
with Armenian officials, his visit was not announced. The RA Foreign
Office explained to NEWS. am that Tsur did not hold a meeting with
the RA Foreign Minister, and the Deputy Minister receives over ten
ambassadors daily. All the visits are not normally announced. Tigran
Balyan, Press Secretary of the RA Foreign Office, said Ambassador
Tsur’s visit is a regular working one and "no special significance
should be attached to it."
Ambassador Tsur has held a meeting with Rima Varzhapetyan, the Head of
the Jewish community in Armenia. They discussed the recent scandal over
an article on Armenia allegedly being a transit point for the supply of
arms to Hezbollah. The article was published by the Italian Corriere
della sera. Talking to NEWS.am, Ms. Varzhapetyan stated Israel does
not regard this report as serious. "Israel is interested in friendly
relations with Armenia," she said. Varzhapetyan pointed out reports
like that are aimed at damaging relations between countries, but the
attempts are doomed to fail. Ambassador Tsur, in turn, stated Israel
does not regard such reports as serious either.
Mr. Tsur’s statements could be considered satisfactory, and the report
forgotten, but for the fact that his visit has been made a secret
of. It is the secret, which is mostly likely aimed at "protecting"
him from importunate journalists, that suggests Mr. Tsur is unwilling
to comment on or refute this information. According to the reliable
information at our disposal, Ambassador Tsur is to stay in Armenia
until this Friday.