According to the statement published in Fırat News Agency, the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) announced that it was not going to release the three German mountain climbers it kidnapped on July 8 unless “the German government changes its hostile policies against Kurdish people and the PKK.”

It also asked Turkey to stop its operations in the area. The statement did not explain what the “hostile policies” were.

After the statement was released, Germany’s foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Germany would not give in to blackmail. The ministry established a crisis desk. They announced that they were in close collaboration with the German Consulate to Turkey and the Turkish authorities.

Ministry’s spokesperson Jens Plötner said he could not give more information in order to jeopardize the lives of the kidnapped mountain climbers. The ministry warned German citizens about traveling to the southeastern Turkey.

While the rescue operations for the kidnapped Germans are on, Ağrı (Mount Ararat) mountain has been banned to traveling and climbing.

 53-year-old Helmut Johann, 49-year-old Martin Georpe and 33-year-old Lars Holper Reime were kidnapped while they were climbing to Ağrı (Mount Ararat) with a group of 13 people accompanied by a guide at 3 thousand 200 meter around 22:00. The PKK announced in its statement that the climbers were in good condition. The rest of the ten climbers left the area yesterday (July 10).

Germany shut down Roj TV's  studio

A month ago, Germany’s interior ministry had shut down a production studio at Wuppertal, which made movies for Kurdish Roj TV. German authorities had also made an attempt to interrupt Roj TV’s the satellite broadcasts. (TK/EZÖ/TB)