Forty-nine Turkish consulate workers in Mosul have been held hostage by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) since it took over the consulate on June 11. Of the hostages, 15 are diplomats, including the Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz, and the remainder are the administrative personnel and members of the special Turkish police security team. The youngest is an 8-month-old baby. Including the 31 truck drivers taken hostage by ISIS on June 13, 80 Turkish citizens are now being held hostage. Some statements by government officials, however, suggest that there may be more hostages.
Despite this anxious situation, Turkish officials have been persistently avoiding to use the words “hostage” and “hostage taking.” Naci Koru, the deputy foreign minister, in a statement to reporters explained why Turkey does not consider the incident as hostage taking: “We don’t think that these 49 people are taken hostage. Nobody told us that they are hostages. If they were hostages, we could sit down and bargain. There is nobody demanding anything in return [for their release].”
