TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that no ransom was paid for the release of 49 Turkish hostages held by the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and that it was the result of diplomatic and political negotiation.
"A material negotiation is totally out of the question ... This is a diplomatic success," he said before leaving for the United Nations General Assembly.
Security sources told Reuters on Saturday, September 20, 2014, that the hostages had been released overnight in the town of Tel Abyad on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey after being transferred from the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa, IS's stronghold.
The hostages, including Turkish consul-general, diplomats' children and Special Forces soldiers, were abducted from the Turkish consulate in Mosul on June 11.
A hostage, Alptekin Esirgun, said that they were asked by their captors to watch a video of the beheading of the three western journalists. "They wanted to destroy our morale. They treated us better because we are Muslims, but still we feel uneasy," said Esirgun to the Anadolou News agency.
The release of the 49 hostages is quite a surprise seeing how the group handles hostages harshly. This may be due to the fact that Turkey denied to join the international coalition of the United States to fight the Islamic State.
REUTERS | USA TODAY | RAJU FEBRIAN
