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Turkey Welcomes Return of Hostages Held in Iraq Turkey Welcomes Return of Hostages Held in Iraq
(about 4 hours later)
ISTANBUL — Forty-nine Turkish hostages who had been held for months in Iraq by Islamic State militants were returned to Turkey on Saturday after what Turkey said was a covert operation led by its intelligence agency. ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey secured the release of 49 hostages who had been held for more than three months in Iraq by the jihadists of the Islamic State on Saturday, marking a moment of joy for Turkey while raising questions about how it had managed to secure their release.
The hostages, including diplomats and their families, had been seized in June from the Turkish Consulate in Mosul, in northern Iraq. Turkey said its intelligence agency had led a covert operation to bring home the hostages, who included diplomats and their families, but insisted that no military actions had been taken and that no ransoms were paid.
“The Turkish intelligence agency has followed the situation very sensitively and patiently since the beginning and, as a result, conducted a successful rescue operation,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement Saturday. But Turkish officials provided no information on why or how the captives were transported from Mosul in Iraq to Raqqa in Syria before being brought to the Turkish border. Nor did they explain how they extracted such a large group, which included women and children, from Mosul, the de facto capital of the world’s strongest jihadist group, without facing significant resistance.
The details of the hostages’ release were unclear. The semiofficial Turkish news agency Anadolu reported that Turkey had not paid ransom or engaged in a military operation, but said it had used drones to track the hostages, who had been moved at least eight times during their 101 days in captivity. “Right now, the government is on top of things because they got the release of the hostages, and they should be congratulated for that, but a lot of people will be asking how this happened,” said Soli Ozel, a professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul.
The agency said that Turkish intelligence teams had tried five times to rescue the hostages, but that each attempt had been thwarted by clashes in the area where they were being held. “I still don’t understand what ISIS got out of this,” he said, using an alternative name for the Islamic State.
One senior American official, who asked not to be named, said Saturday that Turkey had not notified the United States before securing the return of the hostages, or made a specific request for American military help in connection with their release. The release of the hostages will most likely give a boost to the presidency of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the former prime minister, and could affect Turkey’s participation in the international coalition that the United States is seeking to build to fight the Islamic State.
“I am sharing joyful news, which as a nation we have been waiting for,” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he was on an official visit. Turkey, a predominantly Sunni Muslim country and a NATO ally, declined to sign a communiqué calling for a military campaign against the Islamic State, saying that it feared repercussions for the hostages.
“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,” he said. Some analysts said the end of the hostage crisis would give Turkey more strategic flexibility, although the fear of reactions could still keep it from getting involved militarily.
The prime minister left Baku for the Turkish province of Urfa, where the freed hostages, who included Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz, other diplomats, children and consulate guards, had been brought from Raqqa, Syria, the de facto headquarters of the Islamic State militants. “One of the main hurdles for Turkey’s strategy was the hostage crisis and, therefore, the release of the hostages will no doubt give Turkey more freedom with respect to its own strategy to resist the Islamic State,” said Mensur Akgun, director of the Global Political Trends Center in Istanbul. “This doesn’t mean that Turkey will forget about its other reservations regarding national security when giving the green light to the demands from partners.”
One hostage, who was not identified publicly, told a Turkish reporter for CNN aboard the flight to Urfa that the hostages had been moved eight times. “We had tough days,” he said, “very bad days.” Turkey has agreed to contribute to an international alliance against the group, which has seized territory in Syria and Iraq for its self-declared caliphate near Turkey’s southern border.
Another hostage, asked whether he and the others seized had been tortured, said, “Surely, we went through certain things.” Ankara also agreed to open its Incirlik air base in southern Adana Province for logistical and humanitarian support, and pledged to strengthen border security, especially in the south.
Mr. Yilmaz said he was proud of the strength that Turkey had shown during the ordeal and praised the efforts that led to their release. “We’ve been through many hardships, but for one’s country, all were not to complain about but to be proud of,” he said. Its goal there is to stop the transport of foreign fighters who have long used Turkey’s porous borders to join the militant group’s front lines.
Mr. Yilmaz described Mosul as “the most dangerous place in the world, a place thousands of people get killed,” and “the hub of terror incidents.” He said it was “nowhere easy to wave a flag.” The hostages had been seized in June from the Turkish Consulate in Mosul, in northern Iraq, and included Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz, other diplomats, children and guards.
The freed hostages were later flown to Ankara to be reunited with their families. They were advised not to immediately talk to the news media. While the freed hostages were advised not to speak to the news media, some details about their ordeal emerged, suggesting a harrowing affair made worse by the raging conflicts on both sides of the Iraq-Syria border.
Turkey, a predominantly Sunni Muslim country and a NATO ally, declined to sign a communiqué calling for a military campaign against the Islamic State, the militant group also known as ISIS or ISIL, citing the capture of its hostages. Mr. Yilmaz, the consul general, said that airstrikes aimed at the Islamic State in Iraq had killed two of the men guarding the hostages and that some in the group were wounded when the blast showered them with glass.
But it did agree to contribute to an international alliance against the group, which has been gaining ground across Turkey’s southern borders. In an interview with Turkey’s NTV television station, Mr. Yilmaz said the militants had put a gun to his head so they could take propaganda photos of him and the others, but he had refused to cooperate.
Ankara agreed to open its Incirlik air base in southern Adana Province for logistical and humanitarian support, and pledged to strengthen border security, especially in the south. “We would prefer to be killed if anything bad happens to women, children and our flag,” he said.
Its goal there is to stop trafficking of foreign fighters who have long used Turkey’s porous borders to join the militant group’s front lines. The semiofficial Anadolu news agency said that Turkey had used drones to track the captives as they were moved. It said that Turkish intelligence teams had tried five times to rescue the hostages, but that each attempt had been thwarted by clashes near where they were held.
Turkey has a no-entry list of 6,000 potential jihadist suspects and last year deported 1,000 foreigners on the basis of suspected links to jihadist groups in the region, a government official said in a recent interview. Another hostage, asked whether he and the others had been tortured, said, “Surely, we went through certain things.”
Though Ankara will no doubt remain concerned about the Islamic State’s possible retaliation throughout Turkey if it contributes effectively to a military operation against it, analysts said, the hostages’ release still might be a game-changer. “The Turkish intelligence agency has followed the situation very sensitively and patiently since the beginning, and as a result, conducted a successful rescue operation,” Mr. Erdogan said in a statement.
“One of the main hurdles for Turkey’s strategy was the hostage crisis and, therefore, the release of the hostages will no doubt give Turkey more freedom with respect to its own strategy to resist the Islamic State,” said Mensur Akgun, director of the Global Political Trends Center in Istanbul. He added, “This doesn’t mean that Turkey will forget about its other reservations regarding national security when giving the green light to the demands from partners.” One senior American official, who asked not to be identified, said Saturday that Turkey had not notified the United States before securing the return of the hostages, or made a specific request for American military help in connection with their release.
Turkey fears Islamic militants not just over its borders, but also inside of them. It has a no-entry list of 6,000 potential jihadist suspects, and last year it deported 1,000 foreigners on the basis of suspected links to jihadist groups, a government official said in a recent interview.
Though Ankara will no doubt remain concerned about the Islamic State’s possible retaliation throughout Turkey if it contributes to a military operation against it, analysts said, the hostages’ release still might change the situation..
After crossing the border from Syria, the freed hostages boarded a plane in the Turkish city of Urfa to Ankara to be reunited with their families.
Hundreds of people showed up at Esenboga Airport in Ankara, waving flags, to greet the freed hostages, television reports showed.Hundreds of people showed up at Esenboga Airport in Ankara, waving flags, to greet the freed hostages, television reports showed.
“We as a strong state brought our nationals back home, but how about millions of others that expect to return home?” Mr. Davutoglu said, addressing the cheerful crowd and underlining the growing refugee crisis along Turkey’s southern borders. More than one million Syrian refugees have fled to Turkey, including more than 200,000 at more than 20 camps built in several border towns. “We as a strong state brought our nationals back home, but how about millions of others that expect to return home?” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, addressing the cheerful crowd and underlining the growing refugee crisis along Turkey’s southern borders. More than one million Syrian refugees have fled to Turkey, including more than 200,000 at more than 20 camps built in several border towns.
Adding to those numbers, more than 60,000 Kurdish refugees from the Kobani area of northern Syria have crossed into Turkey since Friday, Turkish officials said, fleeing an assault by Islamic State fighters. Several hundred Kurdish fighters crossed the border in the other direction on Saturday to help defend the area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
On Friday, thousands of Iraqi Kurds, in fear for their lives, crossed into a Turkish border town, Sanliurfa, from Kobani, a Syrian village that Islamic State militants have surrounded.On Friday, thousands of Iraqi Kurds, in fear for their lives, crossed into a Turkish border town, Sanliurfa, from Kobani, a Syrian village that Islamic State militants have surrounded.
Mr. Davutoglu on Saturday praised Turkish news outlets that abided by a media ban that the government imposed in June on the hostage situation, and officials refrained from making any statements except assurances about the well-being of the nationals.