Abducted Turks Urge Ankara to Release Them in Video Message

The kidnapped Turkish pilots urged their country on Thursday to "hurry up in releasing them," amid media reports that said they were being held near the southern suburbs of Beirut.

"We demand everyone to help in freeing the kidnapped Lebanese pilgrims,” pilot Murat Akpinar said in a recorded video message released on LBCI television.

Akpinar added: “We are also waiting for help in our case so that we would be released soon.”

"We salute our country and we want to tell our families that we miss them.”

Murat Agca, meanwhile, thanked the abductors “for their kind treatment.”

MTV revealed on Thursday evening that the abducted Turks are being held at a house near Beirut's Dahieh neighborhood.

The same source noted that the person that taped their video message is the son of one of the Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria's Aazaz.

In May 2012, eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped in Syria's Aleppo region as they were making their way back to Lebanon by land from pilgrimage from Iran. Two of them have since been released, while the rest remain held in Aazaz.

The families accuse Turkey of being behind the kidnapping.

They, however, denied any involvement in the abduction of a Turkish pilot and copilot earlier in August in Beirut.

On August 9, gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Turkish Airlines crew from Beirut's international airport to a hotel in the city, and snatched its two pilots.

A previously unknown group calling itself Zuwwar Imam al-Rida claimed the abduction, and demanded that Turkey use its influence with Syrian rebels it backs to secure the release of the nine pilgrims.

Lebanese authorities have since arrested three suspects and charged them in connection with the pilots' the abduction.