Turkish Airlines pilot refuses to fly a Beirut-bound plane as a means of protest

Turkey's Anatolia news agency said on Monday that one of the kidnapped Turkish pilots is in Baalbek's al Sharawneh region, while the co-pilot is in the region of Zawtar in South Lebanon. 

This comes as a Turkish pilot refused to fly a Beirut-bound plane from Istanbul to protest against the kidnapping of two of his colleagues in Lebanon, Turkish media reported.            

The Turkish newspaper “Milliyet” reported that a captain at the Turkish Airlines company, Yilmaz Ozgenturk, left the cockpit after announcing to passengers in Turkish and English that he would not fly to Beirut because he was protesting the abduction.                

The plane eventually took off after a new pilot was sent.                    

The airline has launched an inquiry into the movement of the captain, who reportedly said: "That was my personal choice."                          

On Friday the 9th of August, gunmen intercepted a Turkish Airlines' bus at the Cocodi Bridge in Beirut and kidnapped two crew members, a pilot and a co-pilot. The bus carrying the crew members was heading from the Beirut International Airport towards a hotel in Ain El-Mrayseh.                    

While well-informed sources linked the abduction to the case of the Lebanese hostages held in Aazaz, the relatives of the Aazaz hostages denied being involved in the operation.                      

The incident triggered a chain of reactions mainly from the Turkish side, the most prominent being the call launched by the Turkish foreign ministry on its nationals to leave Lebanon.                        

Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped on their way back from Iran by insurgents hoping to use them for a prisoner swap on the 22nd of May. Only two have so far been released.                      

Their families have vowed to continue their movements until all their loved ones have returned home "safe and sound".                        

They accuse Ankara of sponsoring the kidnapping and the Lebanese government of inaptness in this regard.