said Saturday that 49 Turkish hostages who were seized by Islamic
militants in Iraq have been freed and safely returned to Turkey,
ending Turkey's most serious hostage crisis.
The Turks, including diplomatic staff, were seized from the consulate
on June 11, when the Islamic State group overran Mosul,
Iraq and stormed the Turkish Consulate there. The
hostages included Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz, other
diplomats, children and special forces police.
Davutoglu told Turkish reporters during a visit to Baku,
Azerbaijan that the hostages were released early on
Saturday and had arrived in Turkey. He was cutting his
visit short to meet with the hostages in the province of
Sanliurfa, near Turkey's border with Syria.
He did not provide details on the circumstances of their
release but said the hostages were freed through the
intelligence agency's "own methods" and that no
operation was carried out. He thanked Turkey's
intelligence agency and the Foreign Ministry's head
official for their efforts toward their release.
Turkey had publicly resisted joining a coalition to defeat the Islamic
State group, citing its 49 kidnapped citizens.
The United States had been careful not to push Turkey too hard as it
tried to free the hostages.
The extremist group has beheaded two U.S. journalists and a British
aid worker who were working in Syria as payback for airstrikes
that Washington has launched against them in Iraq.
"I am sharing a joyful news which as a nation we have been waiting
for," Davutoglu said. "After intense efforts that lasted days and
weeks, in the early hours, our citizens were handed over to us and
we brought them back to our country."
"They have crossed into Turkey and I am on my way to see them,"
Davutoglu said.
Thirty-two Turkish truck drivers who were also seized in Mosul in
June 6 were released a month later. Turkey did not provide
information surrounding their release.
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