A Turkish Airlines pilot and hiscolleague were abducted in Lebanon on Friday by armed men whoforced them from a bus driving from Beirut airport in the early hours of the morning.
The Turkish foreign ministry and the airline said they werein close contact with the Lebanese authorities but had noimmediate information on who was behind the abductions or on thecondition of the two airline staff.
Turkey, hoping to cement its role as a power in the MiddleEast, has supported rebels battling to overthrow SyrianPresident Bashar al-Assad and may have influence over fighterswho captured Lebanese Shi'ites close to the Turkish border innorthern Syria last year.
"We immediately contacted the Lebanese authorities at every level ... and they are conducting a very comprehensiveinvestigation," Turkish foreign ministry spokesman LeventGumrukcu said.
"As yet, we do not know who did it or for what purpose."
The rest of the crew were safe in a Beirut hotel and wouldbe returning to Turkey shortly, he said.
A Turkish diplomat said the two Turks were seized at around 3 am (0000 GMT) when gunmen stopped a vehicle carrying theTurkish Airlines crew to their hotel in the Lebanese capital.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but thefamilies of Lebanese Shi'ites captured last year by rebels innorthern Syria, close to the Turkish border, have demandedAnkara take greater steps to win their release.
A senior Lebanese political source told Reuters earlier this week that authorities had information that relatives of theLebanese detainees were planning to take Turkish hostages.
However, Lebanese media quoted a spokesman for the families as saying they had no link to Friday's incident.
Two Turkish nationals were briefly abducted in Lebanon last year, following the capture of the Lebanese Shi'ites in Aleppo province in Syria and the separate detention of a Lebanesenational in Damascus by rebels.