Istanbul, July 07: The United states has released 11 Turkish special forces detained in northern Iraq, a Turkish official said, ending a standoff that strained efforts by the NATO allies to repair relations frayed over the Iraq war. The soldiers were released in Baghdad yesterday, said a high-level government official speaking on condition of anonymity. The soldiers would spend the night at a guesthouse in Baghdad before being taken ``at day light'' today to the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah, where they had been captured Friday. Security concerns and weather had barred them from travelling to Sulaymaniyah yesterday night, he added. A US official could not confirm the Turkish soldiers' release.


The soldiers were released after a bustle of diplomacy that included telephone calls yesterday between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US Vice President Dick Cheney as well as another between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and foreign minister Abdullah Gul. The breakthrough came after turkey and the US agreed to hold talks on the return of the Turkish special forces in Sulaymaniyah yesterday.


The detention of the 11 Turkish special forces Friday in Sulaymaniyah has outraged turkey and deepened the public's mistrust of the United States.
Turkey has long had thousands of its soldiers in parts of northern Iraq to fight autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels who have launched attacks against turkey from bases in northern Iraq.

Bureau Report