Kidnapped Turk: My Freedom is Linked to Meqdad’s Release

A Turkish businessman kidnapped by al-Meqdad clan last month warned that his situation was “tragic” and appealed to his government to exert stronger efforts to release a Lebanese man abducted in Damascus so that he could go free.

In a short interview with An Nahar daily’s reporter from the place of his captivity, a frail-looking Tekin Tufan said: “I am tired and confused and trying to find out what’s happening around me.”

“I knew that my country’s government is exerting efforts to resolve the issue of the kidnapped and several days ago I read in the paper that one of the Lebanese abducted in Syria was released,” he said in the interview that was published on Sunday.

He was referring to the release of one of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims held hostage by the rebel Free Syrian Army since May, Hussein Ali Omar, who last week crossed the border on foot to Turkey and returned to Lebanon aboard a plane.

The remaining 10 men are still being held by their kidnappers who snatched the pilgrims in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo near the Turkish border on May 22 when they were returning from a pilgrimage to Iran.

Syrian rebel fighters also seized Hassan al-Meqdad in Damascus, a move that led to a kidnapping spree by his clan in Lebanon.

The family’s military wing seized several Syrians and Tekin. Another Turkish man has also disappeared but no side claimed responsibility for his abduction.

Turkey is a staunch supporter of the FSA whose leadership is based there.

“If they don’t release Hassan al-Meqdad then I won’t go free,” Tufan warned during the seven-minute interview.

Asked about his conditions, he replied they were “tragic.”

His appeal through An Nahar came as the man reiterated in another interview aired by al-Mayadeen television station that the release of al-Meqdad is tied to his own.