Ankara on Monday set up a crisis desk after a group, including eight Turkish nationals, was kidnapped in Haiti's capital, the country's top diplomat said, the latest in the string of high-profile kidnappings by powerful gangs.
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that a dedicated group is working on the rescue of the abducted Turkish citizens.
The group had boarded a bus in the neighboring Dominican Republic and were kidnapped late Sunday afternoon in the Croix-des-Bouquets neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, said Hugues Josue, Turkey’s honorary consul in Haiti.
"We are monitoring the situation. A crisis desk has been set up in Haiti," Çavuşoğlu told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.
The Turkish nationals claiming to be "missionaries" were abducted for ransom by armed groups, diplomatic sources were cited as telling Turkish media.
Turkey's Embassy in Santo Domingo, which is also accredited with Haiti, had made contact with the authorities of both countries and efforts were underway to secure the release of its nationals, public broadcaster TRT Haber cited the sources as saying.
The five men and three women are all aged between 20 and 26, reports said.
Çavuşoğlu said he had spoken to both Turkey's envoy in the Dominican Republic as well as Haiti's foreign and interior ministers. He noted that ransom is being considered as the motive behind the kidnapping.
Croix-des-Bouquets is controlled by the 400 Mawozo gang, which kidnapped 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group in the same area last October. The gang demanded $1 million in ransom and held most of them until December.
Haitian passengers and a Dominican driver were also onboard the bus, Dominican newspaper Listin Diario reported.
A Dominican diplomat was released last week after being kidnapped while on his way to the Dominican border.
Last week, Haiti’s National Police announced that one of the top leaders of the 400 Mawozo gang, Germine Joly, was extradited to the U.S. He faces charges involving kidnapping, smuggling and import of weapons of war.
Gangs have become increasingly powerful since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise last year. At least 75 people have been killed as a result of turf wars that broke out two weeks ago between gangs near the capital Port-au-Prince, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti said on Friday.
The violence and insecurity have prompted Haitians to organize protests to demand safer neighborhoods in recent weeks.
