DIYARBAKIR - Mustafa Bal, a Turkish worker who was abducted two months ago but freed a week later in Iraq, said two of their kidnappers were speaking Turkish fluently.
Speaking to the A.A correspondent on Wednesday, Bal said that he had gone to Iraq while he was working for an air-conditioner supplier and he was kidnapped.
``After we were held hostage for nearly one week, my friend and I were freed,`` he said.
``Among kidnappers, there were two persons who were speaking Turkish fluently. They were asking questions to us. And they were translating our answers to other kidnappers. They asked us why we came to Iraq, whether Turkey is a Moslem country and is there Shari`a law in Turkey, what we think about religion and whether we love Abdullah Ocalan. None were wearing mask. They covered their faces only when they were before the cameras. I suppose that those who spoke Turkish might have been from eastern and southeastern part of Turkey,`` he said.
``We were freed on June 30. But before they released us, kidnappers told us that they find us again if we talk too much in Turkey because they have spies in Turkey. I am very happy to return to Turkey. However, I was planning to go to Iraq again to earn money since I am now unemployed. I will resume working in Iraq despite everything if I am offered a job,`` he added.
Bal and his friends Mehmet Bakir and Abdulselam Bakir were kidnapped in Iraq on June 23 after their car broke down near Samarrah town between Baghdad and Tikrit.
(MS-ULG) 04.08.2004