TURKISH PM CRITICIZES MEDIA OVER IRAQ COVERAGE

Trabzon, Turkish, 18 Sha’ban 1435/16 June 2014 (MINA) – Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan crticized media coverage over the abduction of Turkish consulate staff in Iraq, at a speech in Black Sea city Trabzon on Sunday.

“I ask the print and visual media, for God’s sake, what do you want to achieve by your provocations while we are trying to safely liberate our one hundred citizens captured by the ISIL elements?” Erdogan said.

“I want to request you to watchout this situation without publishing any provocative materials because these provocations are creating negative rather than a positive effect on the other side (ISIL),”  he said, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant seized northern Iraqi city Mosul in a shocking operation on Tuesday, which they followed up by advancing on other Iraqi cities and attempting to move towards the capital Baghdad.

They attacked the Turkish consulate on Wednesday, abducting 49 staff members who Turkey was unable to evacuate because local police and soldiers guarding the consulate were removed from duty by the local administration.

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said 49 staff and family members abducted from the Turkish consulate in Iraq are safe, as efforts continue to ensure their release.

Davutoglu said on Thursday a “delicate process” was ongoing to free the Turkish nationals, who were abducted by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after they captured the northern city and raided the consulate building the day before.

“We can say that they are in a safe condition,” Davutoglu said. (T/P09/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)