Turkish Pm Calls Iraqi Counterpart On Kidnapped Workers

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Friday spoke on the phone with his Iraqi opposite number Haider al-Abadi over the abduction of 18 Turkish workers in Baghdad on Wednesday.



Sources from the Turkish Prime Ministry "ed Abadi as saying his government was doing everything to save the kidnapped workers.



Davutoglu thanked his Iraqi counterpart for Iraqi security forces' efforts to save the workers, the sources said.



The workers "were there not just to earn their livelihood, but also to contribute to the reconstruction of the Iraqi economy and Iraq", Davutoglu reportedly told Abadi.



Separately, a commission of three Turkish MPs established by the parliamentary group of the Republican Peoples' Party will fly to Baghdad on Saturday to monitor the rescue efforts and contribute to the ongoing operation.



A total of 18 Turkish workers were kidnapped in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Wednesday.



He said that they were employed with a Turkish construction company in Baghdad.



Anti-terror operations



Prime Minister Davutoglu also told Abadi that Turkey was ready to make every effort to save Iraq from the Daesh terror organization.



The Turkish prime minister also mentioned Ankara's aim to destroy the PKK terrorist organization's ammunition depots and training camps in northern Iraq.



"The target of the operations in no way are the Iraqis or Kurdish brothers living in northern Iraq. Once the weapons will be dropped there will remain no need for operations," Davutolgu said.



Operations against the terrorist group PKK inside Turkey and in northern Iraq came after it renewed attacks on Turkish security forces in the aftermath of the July 20 Suruc bombing on Turkey's southern border that left 34 people dead. - Ankara