March 14 Says Kidnapping of Turkish Pilots Hits Lebanon's Credibility
The March 14 alliance's general-secretariat warned on Friday that the kidnapping of a Turkish pilot and copilot in Beirut targets the credibility of the Lebanese state.
“This incident has the sole objective of striking what's left of the credibility of the Lebanese state in preserving security in Lebanon and the (best of) ties with Arab and Western countries,” the coalition's general-secretariat said in a short statement.
The statement described the kidnapping as “very dangerous,” saying it could put Rafik Hariri International Airport on the list of “dangerous and unsafe” airports in the world.
Such a move would have repercussions on all the Lebanese residing in the country in addition to expatriates, it said.
The general-secretariat urged the Lebanese state to be “immediately mobilized” to put an end to such an encroachment and work on unveiling the people behind the kidnapping and handing over the Turks to their embassy in Beirut.
Pilot Murat Akpinar and his co-pilot Murat Agca were kidnapped at dawn Friday at the Cocodi bridge when gunmen ambushed their van, which was carrying a Turkish Airlines crew.
The armed men snatched the two men and let the rest continue on.
The van was traveling between the airport to a hotel in Beirut's Ain Mreisseh seafront.
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