05 January 2013, 21:00
Nana Buadze: 46 pilgrims from Georgia refused to enter Israel for Christmas
A group of Georgian citizens was refused to enter Israel. This was stated by Nana Buadze, the representative of the Department of Religious Tourism of the Patriarchate of Georgia. The Ministry of Foreign Afairs (MFA) of Georgia intends to clarify the circumstances of the refusal to issue visas to pilgrims.
Nana Buadze has reported that a list enrolling 46 names was previously submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Israel. However, the Georgian citizens were refused to enter into the country without any explanations.
"This is the first time when large groups of pilgrims from Georgia will not be able to go to Israel for the great holiday. The tradition to visit the Holy Land has been observed during recent 10 years," the "InterpressNews" quotes Nana Buadze as saying.
On January 4, Maya Pandjikidze, Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated that the Ministry learned about the alleged problems of the pilgrims from the media. "No agency, which organizes such visits and takes care of visas, has never appealed to the MFA or the Consulate of Georgia in Israel," the agency "Trend" quotes the Minister of Foreign Affairs as saying.
