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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Turkmenistan rejects Israeli ambassador, says he is ''Mossad spy'' |
| 2011-07-08 |
| (KUNA) -- Turkmenistan has rejected Israel's designated ambassador for the second time, claiming that the proposed envoy is a Mossad operative, Haartz daily reported on Thursday. The daily added, Turkmen Foreign Ministry says Israel's designated ambassador Haim Koren's past employment as instructor at the National Security College is proof of his involvement in espionage. The Turkmen Foreign Ministry recently informed Israel that it will not accept the credentials of Haim Koren, who was appointed in August 2010, because his resume indicates that he spent three years as an instructor at the National Security College in Glilot. A Foreign Ministry source in Jerusalem said the Turkmen government saw that as proof that he was a Mossad spy, rather than a diplomat, Haaretz said. The Foreign Ministry tried repeatedly to explain that the college was an educational institution and not an intelligence body, but could not convince the Turkmen officials. Turkmenistan had refused in late 2009 to accept Israel's first candidate, Reuven Daniel, who had served in the Mossad in the past. After Turkmenistan refused to accept him, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman made Daniel ambassador to Ukraine as a consolation prize. The Foreign Ministry's assessment at the time was that Turkmenistan refused Daniel because in 1996, when he headed the first Mossad office in Moscow, he was expelled from Russia after he was caught accepting classified satellite photos from Russian officers. Koren's rejection deeply embarrassed Foreign Ministry officials, since this is the first time a foreign country has ever rejected Israel's proposed ambassador twice. They also regarded it as strange, since Koren was a professional appointment, not a political one. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 All ambassadors are spies. They develop contacts, gather information, and send reports home, usually privy to the Foreign Affairs Ministry or State Department [and apparently Wikileaks]. Next statement of the obvious. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-07-08 21:52 |
| #2 If it were OSS it would be all right, because they were all gentlemen. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-07-08 10:31 |
| #1 I thought he was Shin Bett.... or was it CID? |
| Posted by: S 2011-07-08 02:06 |