Ibrahim Interrupts Belgium Visit, Heads to Turkey for Talks over Aazaz Pilgrims
General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim interrupted on Thursday his visit to Belgium and headed to Turkey to meet negotiators over the case of the Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria's Aazaz.
"Ibrahim ended his trip to Belgium and traveled to Turkey to hold talks on the pilgrims' case,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
Al-Jadeed television said earlier that Ibrahim "abruptly" interrupted his stay in Belgium and headed to Turkey.
Ibrahim was in Belgium to attend the International Summit on Transnational Crime.
In a phone call with LBCI television, the General Security chief said he is returning to Beirut via Turkey.
"I am supposed to meet with mediators regarding the Aazaz abductees' case,” he added.
Meanwhile, caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told radio Voice of Lebanon (93.3) that Ibrahim had left Brussels to Turkey after receiving a phone call from a Turkish side regarding the pilgrims' case.
"Ibrahim's return to Turkey aims at resuming the negotiations in this case," Charbel told LBCI on Thursday evening.
Charbel also revealed that Qataris were active in the case of the pilgrims.
He stressed: "We insist on releasing the kidnapped pilgrims in one batch and Turkish and Qatari parties also insist on releasing all 9 abductees."
Optimism surrounded the case of the pilgrim recently after reports said they abductees might be released soon.
“We are getting close to a happy ending and we're are optimistic,” Charbel said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper on Friday.
However, Charbel rejected to set a date for their release.
Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped in Syria's Aleppo region in May 2012 as they were making their way back to Lebanon by land from pilgrimage in Iran.
Two of them have since been released, while the rest are being held in the Aazaz region.
Their relatives have repeatedly held Turkey responsible for their ongoing abduction and they have held protests near Turkish establishments in Lebanon in order to pressure Ankara to exert more efforts to release their loved ones.
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