The operation: Made-in MIT

It was 23:45 in Turkey. 

As for Azerbaijan, it was 01:45.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu just returned from his walk with his wife Mrs. Sare at the seaside.

He was waiting for a call. But nobody was aware of this. 

At 01:45, his phone rang. MIT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan was the caller.

He said, “They are close to the border. If Allah permits, they will pass the border.”

Ahmet Davutoğlu has been waiting for this news for the past 101 days.

He let out a deep sigh.

This news, which he had even hidden from his own ears, had become a reality, and our hostage citizens were being saved.

MIT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu informed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the same time.

An incredible rush of joy was experienced. ISIL had taken our hostages out of Mosul and under MIT’s pursuit; they had brought them to Tel Abyad, which is just right across the Turkey border.

MIT Undersecretary called once again.

He gave the information that the hostages had been received and they are about to pass the border.

At 2:00 o’clock in the middle of the night, Chief Consul of Mosul Öztürk Yılmaz called.

-    Hello, my dear Prime Minister

-    Welcome Öztürk!

-    Thank goodness that our state had news about us.

Prime Minister Davutoğlu had started sharing the first data with Ministers and advisors at the Four Seasons Hotel, where he was residing at that time.

They had passed on to talking about evaluations directed at the planning of the phase. 

At the same time, they had paid great attention to details in order to prevent the bodyguards and journalists from hearing this.

They had been successful in this.

When Prime Minister Davutoğlu, who hadn’t slept since he heard the news that our hostages had been saved and had followed the situation by constantly being in contact with MIT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan, received the news that our hostages had landed in Turkey land at 05:00 in the morning, he performed the gratitude prayer. 

At the beginning of the article, I had said that the Prime Minister was waiting for a call. 

This anticipation stemmed from the hopes that had been raised according to the contacts carried out in the past week.

Even celebration preparations were made in MIT.

Previously, our hopes were raised 6 times; but since there had been no results, this time we preferred to be cautious until we received the news of our hostages leaving Mosul.

The first positive news related to our hostages being rescued had reached MIT Headquarters on Friday, September 19 right after the Friday.

The ones, who had been in constant contact for one week, had informed MIT after the Friday prayer that our hostages will be departing Mosul.

As it was expected, it was confirmed by the MIT officers in the field that the cars carrying our hostages had left Mosul.

The squad that went to Mosul in order to receive our hostages sent the “They are on the way” news to the MIT Headquarters.

The “Good Friday” operation had successfully started in this way.

The cars carrying our hostages were being tracked from three different points.

1-    The images transmitted by UAVs were being tracked in the Special Troops Commandership in Ankara

2-    Phone signals were being followed in the Signal Tracking Center at MIT

3-    As for the MIT personnel in the field, they were following the cars from a distance

Ankara had prepared two routes with alternatives.

1-    Kurdish Region Erbil, since its close

2-    Via ISIL’s preference Mosul, Tel-Afer, Tel-Abyad from Iraq and Syria line.

We had been so close to rescuing our 49 consulate personnel in Mosul 3 days after their capture. Since ISIL was in a conflict with the Kurds, they had preferred the Tel-Afer route on the Syria line, which is under their control, rather than Erbil. In other words, the same line, which had been used to transport our hostages to Turkey yesterday.

ISIS had preferred the safest route for themselves, along with out hostages.

From that moment on, the image and signal tracking had started at the MIT Headquarters and Special Forces Commandership.

According to the MIT personnel, who were at the field following the convoy, the image and signal trackings were completing one another.

ISIL had asked for the transition, from Mosul to Tel-Afer, to be under their control, and under MIT’s surveillance, in order to avoid the danger of the hostages being taken by other groups. Upon the reached agreement, this had been provided and thus reached a positive result.

After the news of our hostages passing the Turkish border was confirmed by a couple of sources, it was decided that the journalists following the Prime Minister’s Azerbaijan trip should be informed.

The ones accompanying the Prime Minister during that trip experienced the privilege of being the first ones to receive this news.

On Saturday, 20 September 2014, Turkey received the long-awaited news. 

On Wednesday, 11 June 2014, Turkey had awakened to the news that ISIL had raided our Mosul Consulate and taken 49 personnel hostage.

On June 11, the Prime Minister of that period, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had given MIT the order of forming a special operation unit.

Following that, MIT had formed an operation unit with the Department of Foreign Intelligence.

Turkey was a county, who had carried out rescue operations in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Under the light of these experiences, the hostage issue and ISIL had been laid on the table. Especially ISIL’s reflexes, the intelligence data gathered from the field and tracking carried out by UVAs had been observed by this unit. 

During some moments, we had almost received the hostages. June 10 had been one of those moments. ISIL had announced that they will be releasing 31 bus drivers. As a result of the contacts made, it had been agreed that our hostages will also be released. All the preparations were made accordingly. But ISIL, who had released the bus drivers, had given up on releasing the 49 consulate personnel.

Because of this reason, MIT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan didn’t inform Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, until the MIT officers had given the “They are on the way” information on Friday, September 19, after the Friday prayer.

Despite the studies on the maps in order to save our hostages, and because of the region being risky and the worry of losing lives, we didn’t dwell on the “Military operation”. By means of negotiations, a result had been reached.

Our hostages had been saved with an intelligence operation rather than a military one.

This operation was completely a “Made-in MIT” operation.

MIT had easily managed to successfully rescue 49 hostages from the most radical organization like ISIL, who is famous for chopping heads, in the most troublesome geography in the world, after 101 days.