Pakistan and Turkey Worked to Free Hostages

The Reagan Administration, stymied in its negotiations with Iran last spring, persuaded the Pakistani and Turkish governments to assist U.S. efforts to secure the release of hostages.

Top Pakistani and Turkish officials hand-delivered messages from Secretary of State George P. Shultz and his aides to senior Iranian officials last spring and summer, officials with the three governments said.

The messages sought the release of the four American hostages then in Lebanon, requested direct U.S.-Iran contacts and expressed the desire for an improvement in overall relations.

A congressional source said U.S. officials enlisted at least five governments in all, including Israel, to serve as intermediaries to Iran in 1985 and 1986. The source refused to identify the other two governments.

Details of the role played by Turkey and Pakistan were described in interviews with Jamsheed Marker, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States; a spokesman for the Turkish Embassy, and Administration and congressional sources who asked not to be identified.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Senate Iran- contra panel said Sunday that President Reagan was aware of private fund-raising efforts to arm the contras but that it remains to be determined if he knew government officials were involved.

“I think the President knew much more than what the White House has intimated,” Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Reagan, speaking in New York, denied he was aware of any illegal government involvement.