YEREVAN. - An article about Pope’s visit to Lebanon issued on Monday by Turkey-based Hurriyet Daily News newspaper saying Armenian community was allegedly dissatisfied with pontiff’s visit made a big fuss.

The article published by Vercihan Ziflioğlu on the website of English-language Hurriyet Daily News said the spiritual leaders of Middle Eastern Christian communities have expressed their disappointment with the outcome of Pope Benedict XVI’s landmark trip to the region, saying they had hoped to present their problems to a greater degree. It was stated by Mor Theophilus Metropolitan of Mount Lebanon George Saliba who was allegedly echoed by spokesperson for Armenian Apostolic Church in Aleppo Jirayr Reisyan.

Armenian News-NEWS.am posted the answer by Jirayr Reisyan who said the report was false.

“When a reporter asked me about Pope’s visit, I gave a precise answer - Pope Benedict XVI visited Lebanon, not Syria, therefore I have nothing to say. However, the reporter of Hurriyet Daily News wrote fabricated answers on my behalf which contradicts to ethic norms. I will make their shame public with the help of media. I have a record of our conversation,” Reisyan said.

After Reisyan’s answer was posted on Armenian News-NEWS.am website, the fabricated passage claiming about Reisyan’s discontent with pontiff’s visit disappeared from Hurriyet Daily News. However, the new websites republishing articles, including The Journal of Turkish Weekly published the original version of the article without any changes. The authentic article with fabricated passage was also posted on the author - Vercihan Ziflioğlu’s – blog.

The screenshots of the mentioned articles are below.

Turkish media has been recently accused of distorting facts on Syrian events. Now the accusations are also voiced by Syrian Armenians.