Lebanese FM denies asking nationals to leave Turkey

Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour denied that the Lebanese embassy in Ankara had asked nationals to leave Turkey. Lebanon has not sent any flights to Turkey to carry back nationals, Mansour said in statements Sunday, noting that such false reports would stir confusion among nationals in Turkey. In its Sunday issue, Lebanese “Al-Diyar” newspaper said the embassy in Ankara had sent SMS to all its citizens to leave the country due to the rage on the Turkish street over the abduction of a Turkish pilot and his assistant in Beirut on Friday. The newspaper further claimed that Lebanese nationals have already started to leave Turkey after the country’s air carrier, Middle East Airlines, sent to Turkey a flight with the capacity to carry 250 passengers. Gunmen ambushed a bus carrying a Turkish Airlines pilot and his assistant in Beirut as they left the airport early morning on Friday for their hotel. In Turkey, the kidnapped pilot was named as Murat Akpinar and his co-pilot Murat Agca.