Turkey to reopen Mosul consulate, 4 years after IS seizure: Erdogan

Turkey is again to open a consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, four years after it was seized and its employees held hostage by Islamic State jihadists, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today.

Ankara had opened a well-staffed consulate in Mosul, in a sign of Turkey's ambitions in northern Iraq, before the rise of IS there and in neighbouring Syria. But 46 Turks, including diplomats, their children, special forces officers and other
Erdogan, then premier, insisted no ransom had been paid, saying there were "only diplomatic and political negotiations" and describing the outcome as "a diplomatic victory."