http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?ID=35345
Turkish businessman, worker kidnapped in Iraq: TV report AFP: 12/25/2004 ANKARA, Dec 25 (AFP) - A Turkish television channel on Saturday aired footage showing a Turkish businessman who said he had been kidnapped along with a worker in Iraq by a group of unidentified militants. Turkish officials could not immediately confirm the businessman's abduction, but said they had been notified by his family that he had gone missing. The black-and-white video braodcast by the NTV news channel shows a man identifying himself both in Turkish and English as Kahraman Sadikoglu, the owner of a shipping line doing business in the southern Iraqi cities of Basra and Umm Qasr. Sitting next to him is another man whom Sadikoglu identifies as Captain Ahmet. NTV said the second man was a Turkish national working as a sea captain for the businessman. Sadikoglu is heard saying that the video was shot on December 23 and adds: "We were caught by a group (of militants) four or five days ago on the grounds that we have done some wrong business in Iraq". He added that his captors were carrying out an investigation and expressed hope that he and the other hostage will be released at the end of the probe. "The investigation will continue for a few more days and they will determine whether we have done any wrong business or not," the businessman said. "And then hopefully they will release us," he added. Sadikoglu denied any wrongdoing in his dealings in Iraq and said:" "We have no problems with the Iraqi government and we have never done anything wrong. We have no ill intentions towards the Iraqi people." The businessman added that his captors were taking good care of him and his worker, calling on relatives back in Turkey not the worry. There was no indication as to who Sadikoglu's kidnappers were or whether they had any demands. Turkish officials could not immediately confirm the abduction, but said they were investigating the whereabouts of the businessman after his wife reported earlier this week that he had gone missing. "His wife contacted us, saying that (Sadikoglu) had been missing for the past six or seven days and that he had last been heard off near Basra," a Turkish diplomat said on condition of anonymity. The Turkish embassy in Baghdad was asked to contact Iraqi and US officials in order to find the businessman, while Turkish missions in Jordan and Bahrain were also alerted over the incident, he said. No trace of Sadikoglu had been found yet, the diplomat added. In a speech in parliament on Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul confirmed that an unidentified number of Turkish nationals, among them a "prominent businessman", were missing in Iraq. "We have contacted both Iraqi officials and the coalition forces to shed light on the situation of these people. But Iraq is in chaos at the moment and even Iraqi ministers cannot provide security for themselves," Gul was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying. Turkey says 80 of its nationals, most them truckers, have been killed in road attacks or at the hands of hostage takers in Iraq. Several other Turks, again most of them truck drivers, have been kidnapped in the war-torn country but most have been released and returned safely to Turkey. 12/25/2004 12:04 GMT - AFP [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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