http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/25/iraq.turkey.hostages.ap/index.html
Turkey ship owner 'held hostage in Iraq'
Saturday, December 25, 2004 Posted: 1308 GMT (2108 HKT)
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Video footage aired Saturday on Turkish television showed a well-known Turkish ship owner saying he and another man were being held hostage in Iraq.
Kahraman Sadikoglu and ship captain Ahmet Yurtdas are believed to have been kidnapped on December 16 after leaving the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
It was not clear who was holding the men and there was no mention of any demands.
"Today is December 23. We were captured four or five days ago," Sadikoglu says on the videotape, released by Turkey's Ihlas News Agency and broadcast on Turkish television.
"We're fine and they will check us out, what we're doing here, and will hopefully release us. God is Great."
"We don't have any problems with the Iraqi government -- we're creating jobs and food for the Iraqis by clearing harbors" of sunken ships, Sadikoglu said in the video, aired by private NTV television.
"If that is a crime, too, then we will accept the punishment."
"We have no bad intentions. Their examinations will take a few more days," Sadikoglu said.
Private CNN-Turk television, another broadcaster that aired the video, said the voices of Turkish-speaking men were heard in the background, suggesting that Turkish-born militants who have joined Iraq's insurgency might be involved in the capture of the men.
No kidnappers were seen in the video and no statement was released by the hostage-takers. No sign or banner was seen behind the two men as in other videos of foreigners taken hostage in Iraq.
Kidnappers in Iraq have executed seven Turkish hostages, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Friday.
Most were truck drivers ferrying supplies to Iraq. The last was the beheading of a Turkish driver whose killing was announced October 14 on the Web site of the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, a militant group in Iraq. Gul said 67 other Turks have been killed attacks in Iraq since the war began.
Some Turkish newspapers speculated that Sadikoglu might have been kidnapped to prevent him from bidding on a multimillion-dollar contract to salvage ships sunken during the Iran-Iraq war in the bay of Basra.
In the video, Sadikoglu said he was working for the United Nations and the Iraqi government.
Sadikoglu looked calm but said Captain Ahmet was "demoralized." The captain did not speak on the video. "We're pretty good. They're taking good care of us," Sadikoglu said of their captors.
Sadikoglu assured their families they would be released soon. "We did not do anything wrong. We did not commit any mistakes."
Sadikoglu is well-known in Turkey for salvaging ships around the world and renovating luxury yachts, including the "Savarano," a luxury yacht once used by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.