German climbers free and safe

Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin announced yesterday that a group of German mountaineers who were kidnapped by the terrorist PKK earlier this month near Mt. Agri (Ararat) are now safe in the hands of Turkish security forces. He said that Foreign Minister Ali Babacan spoke to his German counterpart Fran-Walter Steinmeier by phone and told him that the German climbers were in good health. Agri Governor Mehmet Cetin told reporters that the terrorists released the hostages under the pressure of a wide-scale Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) search and rescue operation.