Turkish Consulate in Mosul

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on June 17 engaged in war of words over the 80 Turkish citizen hostages taken by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused the Iraqi authorities of not protecting the Turkish consulate in Mosul and the 49 Turkish citizens who were kidnapped by jihadist terrorists last week, vowing that all efforts are being exerted for their immediate release.

In the aftermath of the abduction of dozens of Turkish citizens by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Mosul, the Turkish government has drawn contingency plans for the Consulate General in Basra in addition to its embassy in the capital city of Baghdad, a senior Turkish diplomat said on June 16.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is set to arrive for talks in Turkey, as efforts continue to secure the safe release of dozens of Turkish nationals taken hostage by a jihadist group in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

During his visit to Ankara on June 16, Rasmussen will meet both President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The  government will establish a crisis desk to inform the Turkish public daily about the latest developments in Iraq, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said June 13 after a crisis coordination meeting at the Foreign Ministry.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have continued their advance in Iraq after seizing Mosul on June 9.

Two videos have begun circulating on the Internet reportedly showing the Turkish consulate staff and Iraqi soldiers being taken hostage by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants following their offensive on Mosul.

Ankara instructed the special forces protecting the Turkish consulate in Mosul not to engage in clashes with militants of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) who besieged the compound, Turkish media reported on June 13.

Alliance ambassadors convened late Wednesday upon request by Turkey after a terrorist group took tens of Turkish citizens hostage in Iraq.

At the meeting in Brussels NATO ambassadors discussed the situation in Iraq, where militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) kidnapped 80 people at the Turkish Consulate in Mosul.

The fall of Mosul into the hands of Islamist militants, led by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), has the potential to ignite a region-wide war, with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announcing that its militants are ready to fight the Islamists together with the peshmerga.

49 Turkish employees, including Turkey's consul general, have been kidnapped by the militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Soldiers from Turkish Special Forces and children of diplomats are reportedly among the hostages