Envoy: Turkey unable to pressure abductors of Lebanese pilgrims

Turkey’s ambassador to Lebanon, Inan Ozyildiz, said his country does not have the means to pressure the captors of 11 Lebanese pilgrims into releasing them, in remarks published Sunday.   “We do not have the means to secure the release of the Lebanese, but we are trying,” Ozyildiz told Al-Hayat newspaper of the men who have been held captive in Syria for two months. “The Lebanese authorities, for their part are cooperating with us regarding the Turks [kidnapped in Lebanon] and they are doing their best to secure their release,” he added. Two Turkish men were kidnapped this week in Lebanon. Businessman Aydin Toufan was kidnapped upon his arrival in Beirut Wednesday by the Meqdad clan, which also abducted over 20 Syrians, in retaliation for the recent abduction of one of their members, Hassan Meqdad, in Damascus. Another Turkish citizen, Abdel-Basset Arslan, was kidnapped at dawn Friday, but the Meqdad family has denied involvement in his abduction. The envoy also denied that his government placed conditions on the negotiations, asking for the release of Turkish hostages in Lebanon first. During his trip to Turkey, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Saturday that all 11 Lebanese hostages in Syria are "alive and well." Fabius said he would continue efforts with his Turkish counterpart “in order to secure the release of the hostages and ensure their return home,” according to a press release issued by the office of Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri. The French official’s comments come days after media outlets reported that the head of the captors, who is known as Abu Ibrahim, said that four of the pilgrims had been killed in an air strike last week. From dailystar