Suleiman to Turkey Tuesday after Receiving 'Positive Signals' on Pilgrims Case

President Michel Suleiman is scheduled to travel Tuesday to Turkey in light of positive signals received by Lebanese officials about the case of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims abducted in Syria, the Central News Agency reported on Monday.

Suleiman’s trip may carry “a happy surprise for the Lebanese in general and the abductees’ families in particular, knowing that the visitors of Baabda Palace have recently quoted President Suleiman as saying that he will not visit Turkey except after receiving confirmed information about the possibility of freeing them or setting a date for that,” well-informed sources told the agency.

The Lebanese men were on their way back from a pilgrimage in Iran when gunmen intercepted their buses in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo.

The sources said “Lebanese efforts have been focused on releasing them all in one batch rather than in several batches as the abductors had previously suggested.”

The sources added that “the security official delegated by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel to Turkey on the weekend returned with good news and information that the case is heading towards a happy ending, after a similar trip he made last week did not yield any positive results.”

The positive signals carried by the Lebanese officials “prompted the Baabda Palace to request a date for a visit by President Suleiman to Turkey where he is expected to announce the happy surprise,” the sources went on to say.

Baabda Palace sources told the Central News Agency that they were “expecting the Turkish side to set a date for the visit at any moment.”