BEIRUT: The Turkish businessman kidnapped by
the Meqdad clan in Beirut last week has fallen ill and is currently on
medication, Maher Meqdad, the clan’s spokesperson, told The Daily Star Sunday.
The spokesman also warned that his family’s
kidnapping operations will resume if talks fail this week. “I have been
notified by the Meqdad military wing that a doctor was called to examine Aydin
Tufan twice over the weekend, and he is now on medication,” Meqdad said.
Turkish Embassy officials said that they have
received information about Tufan through “indirect channels.”
“We have heard that he has fallen ill, but it
is not a serious illness,” said an official from the embassy who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
The official also said that Turkey’s
ambassador to Lebanon Inan Ozyildiz will meet Interior Minister Marwan Charbel
to discuss the case of the kidnapped Turkish nationals in the country.
“So far there is a definite refusal by the
abductors to release Tufan unless the relative [Hasan] is released in Syria,”
the official added.
The Meqdads claim Tufan’s kidnapping, along
with that of an unidentified number of Syrians, is in retaliation for the Free
Syrian Army’s alleged abduction of their family member Hasan Meqdad in Damascus
earlier this month.
A second Turkish citizen, Abdel-Basset Arslan,
was also kidnapped last week, but the Meqdad family has denied involvement in
his abduction.
According to the Turkish official, there is no
information on Arslan. “Neither us nor the Lebanese authorities have any
information on who has kidnapped him,” the official said.
Meqdad has argued that having a Turkish
hostage is far more effective in pressuring the Free Syrian Army than simply
kidnapping Syrians.
“Even if we kidnap 100 Syrians, it has no use
... No one cares how many Syrians are kidnapped, but Turkey is a democratic
country, it has elections and it cares about its citizens,” he said.
Meanwhile, international advocacy group Human
Rights Watch called on the Lebanese government to end the impunity of
kidnappers and prosecute all those responsible for abducting Syrians and Turks
in Lebanon.
“The Lebanese authorities should investigate
and prosecute those responsible for the reported kidnapping of dozens of Syrian
nationals and a Turkish man,” HRW said in a statement Sunday.
However, Meqdad said that new kidnappings
might target other Turks next week if the government fails to secure the
release of Hasan.
“Our goal is Turks,” he said. “We want our
relative free, even if they release the 11 Lebanese pilgrims, the Turkish
hostage will remain with us until Hasan is released.”
The clan released one of the kidnapped Syrians
Sunday. “Our military wing released a Syrian human rights activist Mohammad
Sleiman after finding no links between him and the Free Syrian Army,” Meqdad
said.
According to Meqdad, the Turkish intelligence
has been playing a big role in keeping the 11 Lebanese pilgrims hostages in
Syria.
“So-called Abu Ibrahim is a Turkish
intelligence officer,” Meqdad said, in reference to one of the abductors of the
11 Lebanese.
The pilgrims were kidnapped near Aleppo in May
and were reportedly being held in nearby Azaz until Syrian government forces
carried out a number of strikes on the city last week.
While Lebanese and Turkish officials continue
to work to secure the safe release of the pilgrims, an armed group called
“Al-Mokhtar al-Thaqafi Brigades” carried out kidnappings of Syrian nationals in
Lebanon last week in retaliation after receiving reports that the abducted
pilgrims were killed in an airstrike on Azaz.
An unconfirmed media report said that
Al-Mokhtar al-Thaqafi Brigades released three of the kidnapped Syrians: Ahmad
al-Najjar, Osama al-Fakhoury and Joumaa Nayef.
Spillover of the unrest in neighboring Syria
has become more apparent in Lebanon with the recent spate of retaliatory
kidnappings.
Many countries, including the United States,
have called on their citizens to take extra precautionary measures during their
travels to Lebanon.
Others, like the Arab Gulf countries, have
already evacuated their citizens out of fear that they might be targeted.
The kidnappings in the country have also moved
Sunni religious extremists in Lebanon to call for a “military council for the
Sunnis.”
“We have decided to establish this council to
get prepared for the upcoming developments ... People of Tripoli want a
military council to be ready at all times to defend them in case the government
fails to protect the people,” Sunni Muslim preacher Omar Bakri told local
television channel MTV.
The call for arms was quickly criticized and
attacked by the Future Movement Sunday.
“We completely reject such a move; Our defense
and security guarantee will remain the state and only the state,” Tripoli MP
and Future Movement official Mustafa Alloush said.
“Let it be clear, the Future Movement does not
accept and will not accept such ideas that replace the role of the state,” he
added.
Separately, activists of Support of Lebanese
in Detention and Exile condemned the spate of kidnappings across the country
and warned against returning to the Civil War era during which hundreds of
people went missing.
Speaking during a news conference, SOLIDE
founder Ghazi Aad called on the government to carry out its responsibilities
and put an end to the abductions. “Such kidnappings are crimes against humanity
and they should be stopped,” Aad said.
Separately, residents of
the Bekaa village of Majdal Anjar blocked roads leading to their village to
protest against the arrest of a Syrian opposition activist.http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Aug-21/185178-meqdads-warn-of-more-abductions-as-turkish-hostage-falls-ill.ashx#axzz24ARzbffe
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