Turks kidnapped in Iraq released

Announcing via his twitter account, Davutoğlu said “Our abducted 16 workers have just been received by our Baghdad embassy”. Previous reports had given the number as 18.

The workers, employed by the Turkish company Nurol Holding, were sleeping in caravans at the construction site in the capital’s northeastern Sadr City district when armed men in military uniforms arrived at about 6 a.m.in black SUVs and took them away.

Over the past 18 months, dozens of Turks have been kidnapped but later released in Iraq by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which overran large parts of the country a year ago.

In the video released after the kidnapping, the militants threatened to attack Turkish interests if their demands for Turkey to halt the flow of Sunni jihadi militants into Iraq and to order rebel forces to stop besieging Shiite villages in Syria were not met.

The workers appeared in a video days after their abduction, kneeling in front of five masked gunmen and a banner bearing a slogan used by Shia militias in Iraq. Arrangements were being made for their return to Turkey, Mr. Davutoglu said.

Turkish Ambassador Faruk Keymakci thanked Iraqi authorities and Shiite clerics who called for the release of the hostages.

The workers were found in the area of Maseeb, 40 kilometers south of Baghdad, a police official told dpa.

Kaymakci had accompanied the released workers in a vehicle from southern Iraq’s Basra region to the Turkish embassy in Baghdad.

This story has been corrected to show that 16 Turkish workers were released Wednesday, not 18.