NO RANSOM PAID FOR FREED HOSTAGES CLAIMS ERDOGEN, – BUT WHAT ROLE NOW FOR TURKEY?

22-9-2014 4.45AM IST

Medhaj News: Turkey’s hands-off role in the ISIS taskforce is a controversial one given its proximity to ISIS extremists, its long standing support to rebels in the north of Syria who are attempting to topple President Assad and its much envied relations with the West – in particular Washington.

Yet its President told US President Obama just recently that its hands were tied with a reported 49 hostages held by ISIS and therefore any assistance – even allowing US troops to set up barracks on Turkish soil - was out of the question. Yet over the weekend all that changed when 46 hostages were released after three months in captivity, sparking obvious rumours that a ransom was paid for their freedom to ISIS – an organisation recently reported to be the most wealthiest terrorist outfit ever and one which relies heavily on revenue from hostage taking.

Yet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that no ransom was paid for the release of hostages held by ISIS in Iraq and that it was a result of diplomatic and political negotiation.

Turkish intelligence agents brought 46 hostages seized by ISIS militants in northern Iraq back to Turkey Saturday after more than three months in captivity, in what Erdogan described as a covert rescue operation, reported Reueters.

Erdogan also said he has discussed a buffer zone on the Syrian border with U.S. President Barack Obama and NATO allies at the NATO summit earlier this month.