Erdogan’s AKP Prepares ISIS Hostage Show

nsnbc international
Aug 4, 2014

AD : Turkey’s AKP government, unable gain the release of 49 Turkish hostages captured by ISIS at the Turkish consulate in Mosul, is preparing a ‘hostage show’ just prior to the 10 August presidential elections.

Many across Turkey have drawn attention to the suspicious timing of the announcement of Turkish Defence Minister İsmet Yılmaz that talks over the Turkish hostages being held by ISIS are ongoing but that the group of 49 could be released today or tomorrow, suggesting that the closeness of this sudden ‘breakthrough’ to the upcoming Turkish presidential election could be too much of a coincidence to be true.

In his statement made in Sivas to members of the press, Yılmaz declared that:

“We are pursuing contacts with all parties in Iraq. We are in contact with everyone who has an influence on ISIS. [The hostages] may come back tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. You either carry out an operation to get [the hostages] back, or solve this problem through negotiations with patience. We want to solve the issue through negotiations, because we believe this is the correct way. [The families of the hostages] should have a little more patience.”

At the same time, it has been alleged that the AKP government has prepared a ‘hostage show’ for the run up to the presidential elections should ISIS release the hostages. According to information obtained by Aydınlık, the hostages will be handed over to Peshmerga forces under the control of Massoud Barzani in Mosul, taken to Erbil in the Northern Iraqi Regional Administration before being flown to Ankara where they will be met by Prime Minister and AKP presidential nominee Tayyip Erdoğan.

While preparations have been made for a grand ceremony for when the hostages return to Turkey, families of those captured have held the ruling AKP responsible for the worry and dread they have experienced having not been able to get news of their loved one for 60 days.

The families, who expressed that the AKP government had ordered them “not to speak” and for this reason they remained silent, further conveyed that

“How we have suffered for 60 days. The government didn’t even take precautions against a possible ISIS attack on the consulate. In fact, it was even said one day before ‘Don’t worry, ISIS won’t do anything to you.’ Let our loved ones come to Turkey unharmed, this is what we will declare.”

Aydinlik Daily