Germany-Turkey-Hostages
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday phoned his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan to confer on the latest developments surrounding the fate of three German mountaineers taken hostage on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey by militants from the Kurdish Workers Party( PKK).
Speaking on the sidelines of his meeting with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammad ElBaradei at the foreign ministry, Steinmeier told journalists that he did not want join speculations about an ongoing power struggle within PKK.
He assured that the crisis team of the German Foreign Ministry were doing their utmost to seek the release of the hostage trio.
Steinmeier has rejected demands set by the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) for the release of three German mountaineers held by the Kurdish terror group in Turkey.
"The Federal Republic (of Germany) won't allow to be blackmailed," Steinmeier was quoted saying in Berlin.
He called for the immediate and unconditional release of all German hostages.
The PKK said earlier in the day that it would not release three German mountain climbers taken hostage unless Berlin ends what it branded as "hostile policies."
According to a PKK statement, all three hostages were in a good condition but urged the Turkish military to cease operations in the Mount Ararat area in eastern Turkey, warning that the operations were endangering the lives of the hostages.
Meanwhile, German federal prosecutors had already started a criminal probe into the kidnapping case.
German law views harming German nationals anywhere in the world as a crime.
Berlin has in recent years boosted security cooperation with Ankara in a bid to halt PKK political activities inside Germany.
Last month, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble outlawed broadcasts of the Copenhagen-based PKK propaganda television station, Roj.
The PKK and its sub-organizations have been banned in Germany since November 1993.
There are half a million Kurds living in Germany, making it the largest Kurdish community in Europe.
