WASHINGTON
By Michael Hernandez
The U.S. will look to Turkey to rise to the challenge posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant following the release of Turkish hostages from captivity in Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday.
The 49 hostages – including diplomats, consular officials and their families – were kidnapped from the Mosul consulate June 11, a day after ISIL took control of Iraq's second-largest city. Forty-six Turkish hostages among them arrived on Turkish soil following their rescue Saturday.
“They are committed to doing this, but they first needed to deal with their hostage situation,” Kerry said to American news network MSNBC. “Now the proof will be in the pudding, as I said, and we will work with them very closely in the days ahead.”
America's top diplomat said that during meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, "they have absolutely pledged to be effective and to be deeply involved in helping to deal with this challenge."
The U.S. is seeking to build an international coalition to defeat ISIL through an air campaign against the terror group, and a simultaneous effort to train and equip partner forces in Iraq and Syria. So far, the U.S. says that more than 50 states have signed on to the effort.
The coalition partners are expected to meet during the U.N. General Assembly this week in New York City. Kerry said that during the next few days “the strategy will unfold, the participants will unfold, and we really have to just give it a little bit of time.”
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