ANKARA: A Turkish journalist who went missing in Syria in August and was believed to have been held by government troops has been freed and handed to Turkish lawmakers touring the country on Saturday, the Anatolia news agency reported.

“I am very happy, I am doing well,” Cuneyt Unal was quoted by the agency as saying by telephone from Syria.

One of the lawmakers, Hasan Akgol of Turkey's main CHP opposition party, told the agency that the cameraman was in good health.

The journalist and lawmakers were due to return to Turkey later in the day, Akgol said.

Cameraman Unal and his Jordanian colleague Bashar Fahmi, who were working for US broadcaster Al-Hurra, disappeared in the northern city of Aleppo on August 20.

The Anatolia report had no immediate information on Fahmi's whereabouts or fate.