Turkish Airlines pilots freed in hostage deal arrive home

Murat Agca, one of two Turkish Airlines pilots kidnapped by armed assailants in Beirut in August,
kisses a child after his arrival at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. (Associated Press)

Two Turkish pilots held hostage in Lebanon returned home on Saturday night, along with nine Lebanese pilgrims abducted in Syria in a hostage release deal, which cut across the Syrian civil war.

A plane carrying the two freed Turkish Airlines pilots landed in Istanbul, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials were there to greet them.

Another pilot, Murat Akpinar, speaks to the media after his arrival in Istanbul. (Associated Press)
Meanwhile, the nine Shia Lebanese pilgrims abducted in Syria arrived in Beirut and were greeted by thousands of well-wishers, with one man being carried out of the airport on the shoulders of a crowd.

One of the two freed Turkish pilots, Murat Akpinar, praised his government's leaders for their help in securing his and colleague Murat Agca's release.

"I thank first our president (Abdullah Gul), our prime minister (Recep Tayyip Erdogan), our foreign minister (Ahmet Davutoglu), the head of MIT (Turkish Intelligence Agency - Hakan Fidan) very much. We knew that our country was behind us. We are a great country. We always said that they wouldn't leave us there (in Lebanon)," he said.

Planes carrying the pilots and the Lebanese pilgrims departed just minutes apart, criss-crossing in the skies as part of the carefully calibrated plan. The release ends an ordeal that began a year and a half ago when Syrian rebels kidnapped the pilgrims, triggering tit-for-tat kidnappings that included the two Turkish pilots.

The deal, negotiated by Qatar and Palestinian officials, was also meant to include the release of dozens of women held in Syrian government jails to satisfy the rebels who abducted the pilgrims. However, it wasn't immediately clear on Saturday night whether any of the women had been freed.

The Syrian government and its official SANA news agency did not mention any such release. The nine Shia pilgrims were kidnapped in May 2012 while on their way from Iran to Lebanon via Turkey and Syria. Akpinar and Agca had been held since their kidnapping in August in Beirut.

"We, together, agreed on four rules (with other pilot Murat Agca). First, we won't die, we will survive. Second, we will be healthy (physically). Third, we will also be healthy emotionally. Fourth, these three articles cannot be changed," Akpinar said on his return. Their abductions show how the chaos from the Syrian civil war, now in its third year, has spilled across the greater Middle East.

The kidnapping of the Shia Lebanese pilgrims unleashed a wave of kidnappings by Shiite clansmen inside Lebanon, including the two Turkish pilots. The gunmen hoped to pressure Turkey to help release the pilgrims. Lebanese, Turkish and Syrian officials declined to immediately offer more details of the multilateral exchange.

But the deal appeared to be mostly mediated by the resource-rich Gulf state of Qatar, which has supported Syrian rebels in their battle against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Turkish hostages arrived home on a Qatar Executive private jet, though Qatari officials did not speak there or in Lebanon.

Source: CBC.ca