WAR: Three Turkish Hostages Released

Three Turkish civilians captured in Iraq over the weekend have been released by their captors unharmed. The Tawhid wal Jihad threatened to behead the hostages if Turkey did not withdraw from Iraq.

Sky.com
The group released a statement to Al Jazeera on videotape, showing the men kneeling in front of three men. One masked man read a statement saying, "We will return these men to a safe place after they vowed to end their support for the infidels. For the sake of you, our brothers, and Muslims of the people of Turkey ... we will release these hostages and send them safely home."

Their release has been confirmed by Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

Related ATSNN/TA News Stories:
Militants Threaten to Behead Turkish Hostages

[edit on 29-6-2004 by Banshee]

Really makes you wonder why they didnt release any of the past hostages. You know damn well any captives would plead for their lives and say/do anything...

From the Sky news article,

Arab TV station Al Jazeera said the terrorists had freed them "for the sake of Muslims in Turkey".

"We will return these men to a safe place after they vowed to end their support for the infidels (Americans).

"We also ask your foolish people to end their co-operation with the occupiers or we will execute them."

Was it threats from Turkey or was it a deal by Turkey one has to wonder by these statements about the release of these hostages.

"The sake of Muslims" sounds more concilitory than beligerant.

"They vowed end to support" Who the Turkish government or the individual hostages? To me it reads more like an individual vow.

"Foolish people ending cooperation" sounds more like a plea.

Because of the ambiguity of these statements I am not leaning towards a policy shift in the Turkish position with regards to terrorism. I am thinking behind the scenes the Turks may have gotten very tough in their communication of what action they would take in the case of beheading.

Sure am glad to they have been released, the political manuevering behind the scenes will soon be known.

I have completely lost respect for the major media outlets. I had to do a search on cnn.com to find the article again. CNN, Fox and ABC couldn't pull this non beheading off of their sites fast enough. It couldn't even survive one day without vanishing into the archives. Its as if they are disappointed with the outcome.

I agree, I brought up the news at work this evening and no one knew what i was talking about. It wasnt even in today's newspaper.. gg

Because of the ambiguity of these statements I am not leaning towards a policy shift in the Turkish position with regards to terrorism. I am thinking behind the scenes the Turks may have gotten very tough in their communication of what action they would take in the case of beheading.

I would agree with this...I think the Turks simply said, look, here's what we're going to do to militant muslim groups in Turkey if you do this (i.e. its going to be open season on such groups if they don't release them immediately...)

Also check out this thread here on ATS for another possibility why they were released, it seems there is a major debate on the issue of killing muslims.
www.abovetopsecret.com...