Miqati Meets Erdogan, Urges Turkey to Continue Efforts to Free Lebanese Pilgrims
Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Thursday held three-hour talks in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging Ankara to carry on with its “satisfactory and ongoing” efforts to secure the release of 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims abducted in Syria’s Aleppo on May 22.
“Mr. Erdogan stressed that Turkey will continue to exert intensified efforts to rescue the Lebanese citizens held in Syria,” Miqati’s press office said in a statement issued after the meeting.
Miqati and Erdogan also tackled “bilateral ties between the two countries and issues related to the region, expressing their determination to improve bilateral relations.”
“Erdogan underlined Turkey’s support for Lebanon’s independence, sovereignty and political stability, stressing that he continues to back the responsible approach endorsed by all parties towards preserving stability and civil peace in Lebanon,” said Miqati’s office.
Erdogan later threw a dinner banquet in honor of Miqati and the accompanying delegation, which comprises Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour.
An Nahar daily reported Thursday that Miqati would discuss with top Turkish officials the “secret mediation” launched by Turkey to secure the release of the pilgrims.
Miqati told the newspaper that his visit to Turkey was part of the Lebanese authorities’ efforts to collect the latest information available on the kidnapped men.
Also on Thursday, Miqati held talks with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and other officials.
Discussions with the U.N. chief focused on situation in Lebanon and the region, as well as U.N. efforts to end the crisis in Syria.
Miqati and Ban also tackled the latest efforts aimed at releasing the Lebanese pilgrims.
The 11 pilgrims were kidnapped in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo on May 22 while they were on their way back from a pilgrimage in Iran.
The gunmen intercepted their buses, according to the women on the pilgrimage who were allowed to go free and arrived in Lebanon hours later.
A previously unknown armed group calling itself "Syrian Revolutionaries - Aleppo Countryside" on Thursday claimed that the pilgrims are in its custody and that they are in good health.
A statement carrying the group’s signature and sent to Qatar-based satellite news channel Al-Jazeera said negotiations to release the abductees “would only be possible after (Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan) Nasrallah apologizes for his latest speech.”
The TV network also aired images of the abductees’ passports, saying they were sent by the group.
“We have decided to keep the Lebanese abductees after we learned that some of them are involved in the crimes and massacres committed by the regime and they are currently under interrogation,” a man who identified himself as Abu Abdullah al-Halabi, the group’s spokesman, told Al-Jazeera.
“Our message to Nasrallah is that it is prohibited to enter Syria and shed the blood of Syrians,” al-Halabi added.
"Our problem is not with any particular community but with those who assist in the suppression of the uprising," the statement said, in allusion to the 15-month revolt against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Nasrallah is scheduled to make a televised address on Friday at 4:30 p.m. during a ceremony to commemorate the 23rd death anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Addressing the abductors in a speech on May 25, Nasrallah said: "If this abduction was aimed at putting pressure on our position (of support for Syria)," it failed.
“We condemn your act and the kidnapping of the innocent harms your cause,” he added.
Syrian state media has said the kidnapping took place near the Aleppo town of Aazaz, which sits along the border with Turkey. It said the 11 men were part of a group of 53 pilgrims on board two buses.
The women were allowed to go free and returned to Beirut by plane on May 23. In his speech, Nasrallah thanked Syrian authorities and President Bashar Assad for providing the plane that transported the women to Beirut hours after the abduction of the men.
He also condemned attacks against Syrian workers in Lebanon that took place in the wake of the kidnap.
On Sunday, the outgoing head of the opposition Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghalioun, said the pilgrims were still being held in Syria after, reports, later denied, that they had resurfaced in Turkey.
"We spoke with some parties who had contacts with the group and we offered our assistance to have them freed," Ghalioun said.
But the mainstream rebel Free Syrian Army, which has close links with the SNC, has denied any involvement in the kidnapping.
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