UPDATE - Nigeria: Released Turkish men arrive in Abuja embassy

UPDATES WITH TURKISH FM'S PHONE CALL TO SAILORS

By Gokhan Kavak

ABUJA (AA) - Ten Turkish sailors, who were released on Friday after being kidnapped by gunmen in Nigeria, arrived in Turkish embassy in Abuja on Saturday.

“Our citizens spent last night in the south. They could not reach the airport yesterday due to the flood, so they arrived in Abuja today,” Melih Ulueren, Turkish ambassador to Nigeria, told Anadolu Agency.

“We are so happy to see them here. We are also happy that they will go to Turkey tomorrow morning on the Eid al-Adha [Muslim religious holiday],” Ulueren added.

The Turkish sailors are identified as Huseyin Zabun, Hakan Cakar, Serdar Cetinkaya, Ersin Yilmaz, Mucahid Sener, Hasan Huseyin Karakurt, Umit Tokgoz, Tezcan Selcuk, Ibrahim Arsoy and Cumhur Akpinar.

After the sailors' safe arrival at the embassy, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu conveyed his good wishes over phone.

He noted that the ministry and the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had closely followed the process from the beginning,

In mid-July, 10 Turkish sailors traveling aboard the Ivory Coast-bound Turkish ship Paksoy-1 were abducted off Nigeria.

The ship was operated by Kadioglu Maritime and had 18 crew on board at the time it was attacked by pirates suspected to be from Nigeria's volatile delta region, according to a local official.

On the day of the incident, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said that initiatives had been taken for the release of the Turkish men.

*Writing by Sena Guler