The men were snatched on September 2 from a stadium they were building on the outskirts of Baghdad, apparently by an armed group that used a familiar Shi’ite Muslim slogan and threatened to attack Turkish interests in Iraq if its demands were not met.
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also congratulated over the phone Turkey’s Baghdad Ambassador Faruk Kaymakci and two of the freed workers, and offered them his best wishes.
The men had appeared in an online video on Tuesday that promised their release after the United Nations backed a deal to extricate Syrian villagers under siege from rebels supported by Turkey.
The demands, directed at the Turkish government, including ending the “flow of gunmen” into Iraq and halting oil exports coming from northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Davutoglu thanked “Iraqi friends” who had worked toward the men’s release, without elaborating. Arrangements were being made for their return to Turkey, Mr. Davutoglu said.
Two hostages had already been released on September 16 in Basra.
Maan told The Associated Press that the 16 workers were found Wednesday in the town of Musayyib, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of Baghdad.
Last year, 46 Turkish citizens were seized by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters in Mosul, but were released unharmed after more than three months in captivity.
On Monday, the militant group responsible for the kidnapping wrote about the release of the rest of the kidnapped workers in its account on the social network.
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Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.
