Caretaker PM Mikati meets with Turkish Ambassador Inan Ozyildiz at Grand Serail

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati affirmed Tuesday the Lebanese cabinet's utmost efforts exerted to reveal the fate of the Turkish Airlines’ crew members who were kidnapped at the Cocodi Bridge in Beirut.      

During his meeting with the Turkish Ambassador to Lebanon Inan Ozyildiz at the Grand Serail, Mikati stressed the importance of the Turkish authorities' reciprocal efforts to release the Lebanese detainees in Syria’s Aazaz.                 

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.