Abducted Turkish Pilots Appear in Video, Say They're in Good Health

Two Turkish pilots kidnapped near Beirut's airport in August were shown in a video broadcast by LBCI television on Tuesday, saying they wished they could be back home.

The video showed Murat Akpinar and Murat Agca both saying they were in good health but adding that they wished they could be home with their families for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha that began on Tuesday.

They said they were speaking on Monday, the day before the start of the holiday.

“I'm safe and sound. I miss my family, my children and my country,” Agca says in English in the video.

“I would like to be at my home. I'm fine,” says Akpinar, also in English.

In a previous video on August 29, Akpinar called on everyone to "help in freeing the kidnapped Lebanese pilgrims," who were nabbed in Syria's Aazaz in May 2012.

Agca, meanwhile, thanked the abductors “for their kind treatment.”

The families of the Lebanese abductees accuse Turkey of being behind the kidnapping. They, however, have denied any involvement in the abduction of the Turkish pilots.

On August 9, gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Turkish Airlines crew from Beirut's international airport to a hotel in the city, and snatched the two pilots.

A previously unknown group calling itself Zuwwar Imam al-Rida claimed the abduction, and demanded that Turkey use its influence with Syrian rebels it backs to secure the release of the nine pilgrims.

Lebanese authorities have since arrested three suspects and charged them in connection with the pilots' abduction.

On September 26, An Nahar newspaper said the captors of the pilots had moved them from Beirut's southern suburbs to an unknown location ahead of a major security deployment in Dahieh.