Turkey prefers to use diplomacy to secure release of hostages
It is a fact that the Turkish Government and PM Erdoğan have been in a very difficult situation especially after the abducted Turkish citizens by ISIL in Mosul.
Commenting about the issue, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday that Turkey is working with patience and using diplomacy to free 80 abducted Turkish citizens in Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul. In his remarks in Rize, Erdoğan slammed at the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) for criticizing the government about not conducting a military intervention to rescue the Turkish citizens, saying the Turkish government is trying to rescue its abducted citizens unharmed. “We are making efforts to conduct this issue with patience, through diplomatic means. We are being patient,” Erdoğan said, without elaborating.
According to The Associated Press, citing an unnamed prime ministry official, an intensive diplomatic effort is being practiced to free the 80 Turkish citizens, and Turkish officials are negotiating directly with the militants in Mosul to free them.
Erdoğan also said he has spoken with Turkey’s Consul General in Mosul Öztürk Yılmaz, who is one of the hostages held by the al-Qaeda splinter group. Again, he did not provide any other details on when or how he contacted the captive diplomat.
“I personally, the Foreign Ministry, the National Intelligence Organization [MIT], our armed forces … we are all following the issue moment by moment. I spoke with our consul general. Our attempts are ongoing to bring home our officials and their family members,” Erdoğan stated without elaborating the content of the talk with Yılmaz.
Saying that Ankara’s priority is the safety of the Turkish citizens in Mosul, Erdoğan stressed that Turkey will take any steps with restraint.
After seizing Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants took 31 truck drivers captive on Tuesday. Forty-nine people in the Turkish Consulate General, including Consul General Yılmaz, special forces soldiers, diplomats and children, were also abducted by ISIL fighters the following day and were transferred to another part of the city.
SOURCE: MEDIA
