Turkey Says Making Every Effort to Secure Release of Lebanese Pilgrims

Turkish authorities have informed Speaker Nabih Berri, Premier Najib Miqati and Hizbullah that Ankara will exert every effort to resolve the case of 11 Shiite pilgrims, who were kidnapped in Syria last week.

The information was relayed to the officials by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu through ambassador to Lebanon Inan Ozyildiz on Tuesday.

Media reports said Wednesday that Ozyildiz told Berri, Miqati and Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad in separate meetings that “Turkish authorities will exert every effort to resolve this case and allow the abductees to return to their families safe.”

Berri reportedly told the diplomat that Lebanon was ready to contribute to the efforts exerted to release the pilgrims.

Raad also informed Ozyildiz that the Hizbullah leadership is pressuring its supporters to exercise self-restraint. The families held a sit-in in the Hay el-Sellom neighborhood of Beirut’s southern suburbs on Tuesday night.

The Lebanese men were on their way back from a pilgrimage in Iran when gunmen intercepted their buses in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo. But no one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

Some media reports said the pilgrims are being held in an area near the Turkish border, but there is little credible information about their fate.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman reiterated on Tuesday that the secretary-general has expressed his concern about the danger of the spill-over effect from the developments in Syria.

“And that applies not just to violence, but to the kind of incident that you are referring to,” Martin Nesirky told a reporter when asked why Ban did not mention the hostage taking in his report to the Security Council which is due to consider it.