Around 48 people and the head of the consulate mission were kidnapped after militants forced their way into the Turkish consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday, a Turkish government official said.
"Forty-eight Turks including the consul, staff members, guards and three children were abducted," the official told Agence France-Presse, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The diplomats were taken from the consulate building to the headquarters of the powerful jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Mosul, the official said.
"All are doing well," the official said, without elaborating.
In a spectacular blow to the Shiite-led government, jihadists spearheaded by ISIL have overrun swathes of Iraq including Mosul.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held an emergency meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay and spy chief Hakan Fidan to discuss security measures and how to secure the release of those kidnapped.
"All options are on the table including the evacuation of the consulate in Mosul," the official said.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's trip to New York was cut short, with several meetings at the United Nations being cancelled in order to head back to Turkey, a ministry official said.
"The Mosul consulate said Tuesday that militants from ISIL, a radical jihadist group operating in Iraq and Syria, had seized 28 Turkish truck drivers," according to AFP. "The group has also threatened to attack a historic shrine which is under Turkish jurisdiction in Syria, the Tomb of Suleyman Shah in the northern city of Aleppo."
"Turkey is a staunch supporter of the three-year-old uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a onetime ally."
In a sign of the country's growing concern over the rise of radicals across the border, Turkey added Al-Qaeda's branch in Syria, the Al-Nusra Front, to a list of terrorist organizations this month.
