Ozturk Yilmaz, Turkey’s consul general in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, was kidnapped June 11 along with the rest of the consulate's 48 workers by the Sunni extremist group the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) following the al-Qaeda spin-off group's takeover of the city the day before. 

While there has been a lot of contradictory reporting about events in Mosul, those seized apparently include three children and about 30 members of Turkey’s police special forces. Turkish media reported that the special forces opened the consulate’s doors after being threatened with a bomb attack. The reports suggested that all those seized were in good condition and were being held at the Mosul governor’s building serving as ISIS headquarters.

Sinan Ogan, a deputy from Turkey's Nationalist Action Party (MHP), was at the forefront the day before as he warned other deputies on the floor of parliament that the consulate was surrounded by ISIS and that something need to be done about it. Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) members at the time accused Ogan of asserting unfounded accusations, and interrupted his speech. On June 11, Ogan told CNN Turk: “I am also going a step further today. Although I can not reveal you the identity of my source, I am told that the special forces were ordered from Ankara to open the consulate’s door to ISIS.”

The news came after ISIS seized control of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, on June 10, sending shock waves across the board over how fragile the stability in Iraq is in the face of a rapidly expanding extremist army. On June 11, ISIS also took partial control of Tikrit, hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.