Aazaz Abductees Families Prevent Turkish Trucks from Unloading at Fish Market

The families of the Lebanese Shiite pilgrims abducted in Syria’s Aazaz staged a sit-in on Monday at the Karantina fish market and prevented Turkish refrigerated trucks from unloading their shipments, in the second such protest against Turkey’s interests in Lebanon.

Adham Zgheib recited a statement in the name of the protesters, confirming that the families will continue their escalatory steps until the release of the abductees and saying they have been “fed up with the false promises given to them over the past 11 months.”

“There will be future steps that will target all Turkish interests in Lebanon in all manners and methods, without harming any Turkish citizen, contrary to what (Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip) Erdogan and his government did, because we are the people of honor, hospitability and generosity, not the people of treachery, kidnapping and treason,” Zgheib added.

On Friday, the families staged a sit-in at Beirut's Martyrs' Square near the offices of Turkish Airlines to demand the release of their loved ones.

They announced that they have launched a campaign to boycott Turkish products in Lebanon, urging citizens throughout the country to support them.

They also warned that “what was taken by force, will be restored by force.”

The families explained that they kicked off their boycott campaign “because economic measures are the best means to pressure countries that claim to preserve human rights.”

“Lebanon imports a billion dollars worth of products from Turkey on an annual basis,” they added.

Daniel Shoaib, the brother of pilgrim Abbas Shoaib, revealed: “Our actions will not end with the boycott of Turkish products.”

“Our options include staging an open-ended sit-in in front of the Turkish Embassy. Turkish officials are lying as they have made false promises to us and the Lebanese state,” he declared.

The families had prevented in recent days Syrian workers from heading to their places of employment in Beirut's southern suburbs of Dahiyeh in an attempt to pressure officials to address the case of the abducted pilgrims.

They followed up this step by closing down a number of Syrian-owned stores in the Hay al-Sellom area in Beirut, saying they will remain shut until the pilgrims are released.

Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped by an armed group in Syria's Aleppo region near Turkey’s border in May 22, 2012 as they were making their way back by land from pilgrimage in Iran.

Two of them have since been released, while the remaining nine are still being held in Syria's Aazaz area.

The families have been accusing Ankara of being the sponsor of the kidnappers.