Two Turkish Journalists Detained in Syria Released after Iranian Mediation
Two Turkish journalists who were detained for two months in Syria are on their way home following mediation by Iran, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced Saturday.
"I have just spoken with Iranian Foreign Minister (Ali Akbar) Salehi. Our two journalists, Adem Ozkose and Hamit Coskun, about whom we had no news since they left for Syria, are on their way to Tehran now," Davutoglu said on Twitter.
"We expect them to arrive in Tehran shortly. At the request of our prime minister we are sending a plane to Iran to pick up our journalists," he added.
The minister did not state whether the pair had been handed over to Iranian authorities.
Coskun, a cameraman, and reporter Ozkose of the newspaper Milat entered Syria in early March to film a documentary on the bloody crackdown on dissent in the country.
They were last seen on March 9 near the rebel stronghold of Idlib, in the northwest near the border with Turkey.
The Turkish news agency Anatolia, quoting local Syrian sources and witnesses, reported that the two men were arrested by a pro-government militia and then handed over to Syrian intelligence.
Last month, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the Damascus regime of jailing the journalists.
"Right now, two Turkish journalists are still in the hands of the Syrians, practically in a position of prisoners of war," he said, demanding that Syria "respond to this immediately."
Ankara, a former ally of Damascus, has called on the thousands of Turks who reside in Syria to leave the country.
More than 11,000 people have died in the unrest that began in March 2011, according to aid groups.
Erdogan has called on Syrian strongman Bashar Assad to step down.
Source: Agence France Presse
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