Speaking to Doğan News Agency, one of the drivers, Serdar Bayrak, said they were being transported to the Iraqi Kurdish region after the militants told them to pack this morning. He also said they had called their relatives to confirm that they had been released, the agency reported.

Another driver, Vehbi Demir, told private broadcaster CNNTürk they had stepped out of the vehicles and were continuing the rest of the way to Mahmur by foot.

ISIL renamed itself simply as the Islamic State (IS) after its leader declared a new Islamic state in lands seized last month across a swathe of Iraq and Syria.

Campaign propaganda claims

Umut Oran, a leading deputy of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), asked Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in a parliamentary question last month if the Turkish hostages in Iraq would be used by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a "propaganda tool." "Is it true that hostages will be met by Erdoğan as a show after his nomination? Is there a sham fight between the government and ISIL?" Oran asked.

Erdoğan was announced July 1 as the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) candidate for the presidential elections scheduled for next month.

The Foreign Ministry denied the claims as "baseless and ugly" in a written statement on July 2. "Nothing is more important than the safety of the life of our citizens. Our public knows the concerted and effective efforts that were put by our state in previous incidents. Turning such an incident, which is related to our national interests and carries a special sensitivity for the families of our retained citizens, into a subject of baseless claims is regreftul," the statement said.