NOVANEWS
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu
TODAYS ZAMAN
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has condemned the murder of Japanese national Kenji Goto by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and extended condolences to the family of the slain journalist, in statement on its website on Sunday.
Turkey’s statement said: “We have learned with deep sorrow that the terrorist organization ISIL killed its Japanese hostage, Kenji Goto, after killing Japanese national Haruna Yukawa. We are condemning this wild terrorist act with hatred, expressing our condolences to Kenji Goto’s family, the Japanese government and our friends, the Japanese people. Terrorism is a crime against humanity. Turkey will pursue its war against terrorism in full cooperation with the international community, like it has done so far.”
The Foreign Ministry referred to ISIL with its Arabic initials, a name the terrorists do not prefer to be used.
An online video released Saturday night purported to show an ISIL militant behead Japanese journalist Goto, ending days of negotiations by diplomats to save the man. The video, released on militant websites and highlighted by militant sympathizers on social media sites, bore the symbol of ISIL’s al-Furqan media arm.
The video, called “A Message to the Government of Japan,” featured a militant who looked and sounded like a militant with a British accent who has taken part in other beheading videos by ISIL. Goto, kneeling in an orange prison jumpsuit, said nothing in the roughly one-minute-long video. “Abe,” the militant says in the video, referring to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, “because of your reckless decision to take part in an unwinnable war, this man will not only slaughter Kenji, but will also carry on and cause carnage wherever your people are found. So let the nightmare for Japan begin.”
Goto was captured in October, after he traveled to Syria to try to win the release of fellow journalist Yukawa. The hostage drama began last week after militants threatened to kill Goto and Yukawa in 72 hours unless Japan paid $200 million.
After the release of the video, many Japanese reporters, who had been waiting near the Syrian border of Turkey over the last few days to cover a possible swap between the Japanese government and ISIL militants, began leaving the area.
Turkey’s statement said: “We have learned with deep sorrow that the terrorist organization ISIL killed its Japanese hostage, Kenji Goto, after killing Japanese national Haruna Yukawa. We are condemning this wild terrorist act with hatred, expressing our condolences to Kenji Goto’s family, the Japanese government and our friends, the Japanese people. Terrorism is a crime against humanity. Turkey will pursue its war against terrorism in full cooperation with the international community, like it has done so far.”
The Foreign Ministry referred to ISIL with its Arabic initials, a name the terrorists do not prefer to be used.
An online video released Saturday night purported to show an ISIL militant behead Japanese journalist Goto, ending days of negotiations by diplomats to save the man. The video, released on militant websites and highlighted by militant sympathizers on social media sites, bore the symbol of ISIL’s al-Furqan media arm.
The video, called “A Message to the Government of Japan,” featured a militant who looked and sounded like a militant with a British accent who has taken part in other beheading videos by ISIL. Goto, kneeling in an orange prison jumpsuit, said nothing in the roughly one-minute-long video. “Abe,” the militant says in the video, referring to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, “because of your reckless decision to take part in an unwinnable war, this man will not only slaughter Kenji, but will also carry on and cause carnage wherever your people are found. So let the nightmare for Japan begin.”
Goto was captured in October, after he traveled to Syria to try to win the release of fellow journalist Yukawa. The hostage drama began last week after militants threatened to kill Goto and Yukawa in 72 hours unless Japan paid $200 million.
After the release of the video, many Japanese reporters, who had been waiting near the Syrian border of Turkey over the last few days to cover a possible swap between the Japanese government and ISIL militants, began leaving the area.
