Archbishops' Abduction Should Be A Warning to Turkey
The abduction of two Syrian archbishops by armed men on their way to Aleppo while returning from Turkey should be a warning to Ankara that it needs to review its security policies, writes Kadri Gursel.
While this article was being written on the last day of April, there was still no news about the fates of Greek Orthodox Archbishop for Aleppo Iskenderun Pavlos Yazici and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo Yuhanna Ibrahim [Yohanna Ibrahim], who were kidnapped in that city by armed men on April 22. It is not known if they are alive or who kidnapped them. No organization or group has claimed responsibility.
What is known and heard about the incident so far can be summarized as:
Two archbishops went to Turkey to secure the release of two priests kidnapped long before them. They were returning in their private cars, driven by their drivers after passing through Cilvegozu border crossing and were on their way to Aleppo. As they approached Al Mansoura, the road was blocked by armed men. The kidnappers killed the driver of Archbishop Ibrahim’s car on the spot and then took off in unknown directions with the two archbishops.
According to reports possibly based on testimony given by Archbishop Yazici’s driver, the only living witness to the incident, the kidnappers were Chechen and Syrian. This brings to mind Jabhat al-Nusra, whose linkage to al-Qaeda in Iraq is established. It is also known that Jabhat al-Nusra is active in the area between the border crossing and Aleppo.
