The consul general of Iran has suggested to the people of Armenia’s Kapan city not to be worried at all, and said they are here for the Armenian people. Morteza Abedin Varamin announced this in an interview to Armenian News-NEWS.am. We present below the text of this interview.

Is the consultation starting to operate from today, from tomorrow? Is everything finished or not yet?

Since our minister came according to the invitation of his excellency [Armenian FM] Mr. Mirzoyan to Armenia, we saw that it is a good opportunity to open the consulate general with the presence of our minister.  So, officially from Monday the consulate general works. But operationally it will be working from the next week.

How the consulate is going to contribute to tightening the relations between Armenia and Iran?

I think from weeks ago we worked very hard to help develop the relations between two countries by preparing all the things to open our consulate general here. I am hopeful that in near future the consulate can help to develop our historical relations in different fields as I told before in terms of political, cultural, trade, economic, etc.

Are there any programs that are connected with Syunik region for now.

I need a little bit time to come and see the people, the officials in Syunik province and after that we will see in which fields we could cooperate better. I think that opening the consulate general in Kapan will help the businessmen and other personalities to do more than what we have and what we had before.

But there is surely a political message in opening a consulate in Kapan. We are just 2 km away from the Azerbaijani soldiers. Considering this I would like your comment on why is a consulate being opened right now in Syunik.

We are messengers of peace in Armenia and we want to see Armenia a stable country. So as Iranian high officials emphasized we can’t accept any change in border changes in region.

Was this political situation the first reason to open a consulate in Syunik?

I think that opening a consulate general of IRI in Kapan shows a strong determination of the leaders of two countries. This decision comes back to many years and now we are witnessing the opening of the embassy at that time being.

I would like to hear your comment as a person on how did you see Syunik and was this your first visit here?

I see the Armenian people as we have Armenian citizens in Iran. They are very gentle people and very nice people. So are the people in your country and in Kapan.

Even though the tension on the border is quite higher here, people are very nervous and live in constant fear.

I suggest to people in Kapan not to be worried at all. We are here for Armenian people.