Relatives of Aazaz hostages release head of Turkish Cultural Center

       
Relatives of the Lebanese hostages held in Syria's Aazaz ended their movement staged on Monday and they released the head of the Turkish Cultural Center office in Downtown Beirut, after having entrapped him, the spokesperson of the families said to LBCI on Monday.           

In this context, Hajja Hayat Awali confirmed that the families entered the Turkish office through the back door and detained the head of the Turkish center who "will remain 'in their custody' until the center is shut down".          

Hajja Awali added that the families decided to undertake such actions since "the head of office broke a pledge and opened the center".

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.         

Over the past month they held a major demonstrations in Martyrs Square before the Turkish Airline Offices whereby they announced that they would be calling for the boycott of all Turkish products in Lebanon since "Lebanon imports a billion dollars worth of products from Ankara on a yearly basis."