26 December 2004	Sunday	13 Ziqa'ad 1425

ANKARA, Dec 25: A Turkish television channel on Saturday aired footage showing a Turkish businessman who said he had been kidnapped along with a worker in Iraq by a group of unidentified militants. Turkish officials could not immediately confirm the businessman's abduction , but said they had been notified by his family that he had gone missing.

The black-and-white video broadcast by the NTV news channel shows a man identifying himself both in Turkish and English as Kahraman Sadikoglu, the owner of a shipping line doing business in the southern Iraqi cities of Basra and Umm Qasr.

Sitting next to him is another man whom Sadikoglu identifies as Captain Ahmet. NTV said the second man was a Turkish national working as a sea captain for the businessman.

Sadikoglu is heard saying that the video was shot on Dec 23 and adds: "We were caught by a group (of militants) four or five days ago on the grounds that we have done some wrong business in Iraq".

He added that his captors were carrying out an investigation and expressed hope that he and the other hostage will be released at the end of the probe.

"The investigation will continue for a few more days and they will determine whether we have done any wrong business or not," the businessman said.

"And then hopefully they will release us," he added.

Sadikoglu denied any wrongdoing in his dealings in Iraq and said: "We have no problems with the Iraqi government and we have never done anything wrong. We have no ill intentions towards the Iraqi people."

The businessman added that his captors were taking good care of him and his worker, calling on relatives back in Turkey not the worry.

There was no indication as to who Sadikoglu's kidnappers were or whether they had any demands.

Turkish officials could not immediately confirm the abduction, but said they were investigating the whereabouts of the businessman after his wife reported earlier this week that he had gone missing.

"His wife contacted us, saying that (Sadikoglu) had been missing for the past six or seven days and that he had last been heard off near Basra," a Turkish diplomat said on condition of anonymity.-AFP