Ankara working on abducted citizens

ANKARA / BEIRUT

Diplomatic efforts to secure the release of two Turkish citizens continued with series of talks over the weekend.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said yesterday that they have been working to give good news to the families of two Turkish citizens who were abducted in Lebanon.

Davutoğlu said they had contact with Lebanese officials on the matter. Davutoğlu said that he held talks with Lebanon’s prime minister and foreign minister, and yesterday he had a phone conversation with Lebanese Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri. The Turkish ambassador to Lebanon has been holding talks with officials there, he said. “We are exerting great efforts to give good news to their families,” he added.

Travel warning

On Aug. 17, Turkey issued a warning asking its citizens to refrain from traveling to Lebanon in coming days due to the latest abductions. Meanwhile, Turkey’s ambassador to Lebanon, İnan Özyıldız, said his country does not have the means to pressure the captors of 11 Lebanese pilgrims into releasing them, in remarks published yesterday.

“We do not have the means to secure the release of the Lebanese, but we are trying,” Özyıldız told al-Hayat newspaper about the men who have been held captive in Syria since May.