German tourist hostages freed
2008-07-20 16:43
Ankara - Three German tourists kidnapped
by Kurdish separatist guerrillas while on a climbing expedition
in eastern Turkey earlier this month are free, German's foreign
minister and Turkish officials said on Sunday.
"We have the German mountaineers. The Foreign Minister Ali
Babacan has called the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier to inform him," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Burak
Ozugergin.
The men were kidnapped in Agri Province, near the border
with Iran, nearly two weeks ago.
Steinmeier confirmed that the mountaineers were free.
"Given the circumstances, they are quite well," Steinmeier
told reporters in Berlin, adding that German embassy staff in
Ankara were ensuring they were being looked after.
"The main thing is that we, together with the released men
and their families, are very relieved," said Steinmeier,
thanking Turkish authorities for their co-operation.
Turkish gendarme forces found the mountaineers on a hilltop
where they had been left by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
militants, the provincial governor said.