Five Turkish citizens employed by a Turkish company, abducted within the borders of the Republic of the Sudan’s State of North Darfur on 9 September 2011 while travelling to Chad in order to dig water wells, have been released today (2 February) following a period of approximately five months.

H.E. Mr. Ahmet Davutoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, has made phone conversations with each one of them in order to convey them his best wishes for a speedy recovery and inquire about their health conditions.

Our citizens are in good health and they will be promptly transferred to Turkey via Khartoum.

We wholeheartedly thank all the sides who sincerely exerted great efforts for the release of our citizens, especially the authorities of the Republic of the Sudan and the officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Office in Sudan.