A handout photo released yesterday by the Turkish presidential press office shows Erdogan and his wife Emine greeting some of the freed Turkish consulate hostages at the Cankaya presidential palace in Ankara.

AFP/Ankara

Turkey said yesterday that that dozens of hostages held by Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq had been released without ransom, ending a crisis that has hindered Ankara’s ability to combat jihadism on its borders.

“A bargain for money is totally out of the question. There were only diplomatic and political negotiations. And this is a diplomatic victory,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport.

The 46 Turks abducted by IS jihadists in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul returned on Saturday after more than three months in captivity, in what Erdogan described as a “secret rescue operation” by Turkey’s spy agency.

Asked whether hostages had been released in exchange for IS militants, Erdogan said: “It doesn’t matter whether there was a swap or not. The most important thing is they (the hostages) are back and reunited with their families.”

Diplomats and their children were seized from the Turkish consulate in Mosul along with special forces officers on June 11 as IS militants overran swathes of northern Iraq.

IS also kidnapped 31 Turkish truck drivers in early June from the city, but released them a month later.

IS has declared an Islamic “caliphate” across parts of northern Iraq and Syria, committing widespread atrocities and instituting a brutal interpretation of Islamic law.

Turkey, a Nato member and Washington’s key ally in the region, has been reluctant to take part in combat operations against IS or allow a US-led coalition to use its airbases for strikes, citing concern for the safety of its hostages.

Ankara has also faced criticism that it allowed the formation of IS through its support of Islamist elements within the Syrian rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad.

Erdogan signalled that Turkey may re-evaluate its co-operation with the anti-IS coalition now that the hostages have been released.

“We could have said ‘yes’ to some coalition demands immediately. But we couldn’t have done it at the time. We said we had 49 lives and that we can’t take any step without resolving this issue,” he said.

“We said we cannot play a role in the coalition ... but we need to engage in intensive negotiations with coalition members to map out a roadmap. After that we will decide what kind of attitude to take,” Erdogan said.

He also said that he hopes to revisit discussions over setting up a buffer zone along its Iraq-Syria border when he meets US Vice-President Joe Biden at an upcoming UN summit.

Earlier yesterday, Erdogan told the hostages that while “our top priority was the security of your lives ... it is also our duty to think about our country’s reputation”.

“There are things that have talked about, we will talk about and we cannot talk about,” Erdogan said. “Running a state is different than running a grocery store.

“We have to protect sensitive issues, otherwise there would be a heavy price to pay.”

He said that the hostages had been rescued by Ankara’s spy agency MIT, which had carried out a “covert” rescue operation together with the Turkish army and police to secure their release.

“No other countries were involved in the operation,” Erdogan said.

Turkish media reported that the MIT failed five times to rescue the hostages because the IS militants moved them each time tensions in the area escalated.

 

 

 

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