TURKEY FACILITATES SYRIAN'S HAJJ PILGRIMAGE. ANKARA: Syrians’ Hajj pilgrimage to the sacred Islamic cities of Madinah and Makkah in Saudi Arabia has begun via Turkey. In the first batch, a group of 180 pilgrims, mostly from Aleppo and its surroundings, entered from Syria’s Bab Al-Salama crossing in northern Aleppo to Turkey’s Oncupinar crossing in the south-eastern town of Kilis. The group will be followed by another 1,058 pilgrims. It is estimated that 7,000 Syrian pilgrims will pass through Turkey. Permission is granted by Turkey’s Foreign Ministry, and the pilgrimage is organized by the Syrian Higher Committee of Pilgrimage, under the auspices of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (NCROS). Hajj, which is obligatory for every Muslim who can afford it, gathers Muslims from around the world each year in Saudi Arabia as of early September. “Many of the pilgrims reached Turkey at the end of a two-day trip,” Syrian pilgrim Abdurrahman Nehlevi...