Turkey Rejects Demands on Fate of Iraq Hostages

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by Andrew Marshall
(Reuters)

BAGHDAD -- Turkey rejected Sunday the demands of militants in Iraq threatening to behead three Turkish hostages during President Bush's visit to Istanbul for a NATO summit.

Militants loyal to suspected al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said in a statement to Al Jazeera television on Saturday that the three hostages would be executed within 72 hours unless Turks stopped working with U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

"Turkey has been fighting terrorist activity for more than 20 years," Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul told reporters in Istanbul. "They ask many things, they demand many things. We never consider them with seriousness."

Jazeera showed footage of the three hostages crouching in front of masked gunmen and holding up their passports. Turkey is not part of the U.S.-led force in Iraq but many nationals work as drivers and support staff for U.S. forces.

Zarqawi's group beheaded a South Korean hostage last week after Seoul rejected a demand to withdraw its forces from Iraq and last month decapitated a U.S. captive. Both killings were filmed in footage posted on Web sites used by Islamists.

Zarqawi also has claimed responsibility for a series of bloody attacks, most recently a wave of suicide bombings and armed assaults in five cities Thursday that killed more than 100 Iraqis and three U.S. soldiers.

Guerrillas have staged multiple attacks this month in a bid to disrupt the formal handover of sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government Wednesday. U.S. and Iraqi officials say they expect more attacks in coming days.

Saturday evening two car bombs were detonated in a busy street in the town of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad. The U.S. military said the latest casualty reports showed that 23 people were killed and 58 wounded.

More than 20 car bombs have exploded across Iraq this month.

Shadow Over Summit

The threat to kill the three Turks has cast a shadow over Bush's visit to Turkey. The 72-hour deadline ends during a NATO summit in Istanbul Monday and Tuesday at which the controversial issue of a NATO role in Iraq will be discussed.

Officials say NATO will agree to help train fledgling Iraqi security forces -- a far cry from Washington's initial hopes to have a NATO troop deployment in Iraq. France and Germany, which opposed the Iraq war, shot down that idea.

"We anticipate that at this summit, heads of state will end up agreeing that NATO will in fact have a role in training and equipping the Iraqi security forces," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told BBC television in Istanbul.

Underscoring the frail security situation in Iraq, a loud explosion sounded across central Baghdad Sunday and smoke could be seen rising from inside the Green Zone headquarters of the U.S.-led administration, a favored target for insurgents.

U.S. soldiers confirmed two rockets or mortars landed inside the Green Zone, a complex that includes palaces formerly used by Saddam Hussein. There was no word on casualties.

"A Very Effective Terrorist"

Washington has offered $10 million for Zarqawi's capture.



"He remains the number one target inside this country. He is a very effective terrorist," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the U.S. military in Iraq, told a news conference in Baghdad Saturday.

U.S. forces mounted three "precision strikes" in the rebellious Iraqi city of Falluja last week aimed at destroying Zarqawi's safe houses and killing his followers.

Kimmitt said the latest strike, Friday, may have come close to killing the Jordanian-born militant. Senior military officials said up to 25 militants were killed in that attack.

Iraqi guerrillas and tribal leaders in Falluja have denied Zarqawi is in the city, where hundreds of Iraqis were killed in April in fierce fighting between U.S. Marines and guerrillas. Critics say Falluja is now a safe haven for foreign militants.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi told CBC News that violence could force a delay in national elections due to be held by the end of January. Secretary of State Colin Powell, responding to the comments, said it was too early to gauge whether a delay might be necessary.

Rumsfeld said Sunday that Washington may not have to send more troops to Iraq. The United States has about 140,000 troops there, joined by nearly 25,000 other foreign troops.
 

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Alex, that is a terrible joke.

icon_mad.gif


Phaedrus
 

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And every once in a while, the news is good ...

Turkey Says Three Hostages Released in Iraq

(Reuters)

ISTANBUL -- Turkey on Tuesday said three Turkish hostages held under threat of execution by an al Qaeda-linked militant group in Iraq had been freed.

"We only know they have been released," a Turkish government official told Reuters, saying he had no other immediate details.

Al Jazeera television, monitored in Dubai, said a group led by suspected al Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had freed the three.

The group had kidnapped the three civilian workers last week and threatened to behead them on Tuesday unless Turks stopped working for U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

State-run Anatolian news agency said Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul confirmed the release of the three hostages.

"Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad announces the release of the Turkish hostages for the sake of Muslims in Turkey and their demonstrations against (U.S. President George W.) Bush," a masked man said on a video recording aired by Jazeera.

"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 cooperation with the occupiers or we will execute them."

A three-day visit by Bush to Turkey for a NATO summit has been met by widespread demonstrations against his policies in Iraq. Public opinion in Muslim Turkey has been strongly against the U.S.-led invasion.

The grainy Jazeera video showed the three Turks sitting on the floor with masked, armed men standing behind them. A banner on a wall carried the name of Jordanian-born Zarqawi's Jama'at al-Tawhid group.

Another two Turkish men taken hostage in Iraq three weeks ago have told their families they are well and will return to Turkey within a week, Turkish media reported on Tuesday.
 

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The Turks are not ones to be messed with. I think the terrorists realized if they went through with the executions they would have a new enemy who could care less about what the world thinks.Making the US measured response pale in comparison.
 

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I think that Turkish public opinion was taken into consideration, (plus those dudes are muslims too.)

Turkey rejected US requests for help in the run up to invasion, and really pissed GWB off.

Anti-US sympathy in Turkey is a well known fact, there would be no point in turning that against your 'liberation struggle' (or whatever) by murdering people who are pretty much on your side anyway.
 

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