as hostages including Turkish Consul in Mosul.

This comes a day after ambassadors of NATO members held an emergency meeting at the request of Turkey to discuss the situation in Iraq, where Islamist militants took control on sectors of land and held 80 Turkish  people as hostages.

Turkish Minister of Justice , Bakir Bozdaj said that the government is not seeking any new mandate to launch a military operation in Iraq, where gunmen are holding 80 Turkish citizens as hostages.

Bozdaj said to reporters in Ankara, "the question of whether the current situation is enough (to launch a military operation) or that there is a need for a new mandate was among the issues under discussion., But so far we do not seek for a new mandate."

The parliamentary mandate which allows Turkey to launch cross-border military operations in Iraq expires in October. The mandate aims to enable Ankara to launch attacks on the bases of PKK in northern Iraq.

An official in NATO said after a meeting yesterday that, "Turkey informed the other allies on the situation in Mosul (the Iraqi city) and the detention of Turkish citizens, including the Consul General as hostages," according to what Reuters reported , seen by "Shafaq News".

He said that the meeting was held for the purpose of access to information   not under Article IV of the Treaty of establishing the alliance, which allows any member to ask for consultation with the Allies when they feel territorial threatened.

The official added, "Members will continue to follow events closely with great concern."

He said the attacks carried out by militants group of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, represent "a serious threat to Iraq's security and stability of the region."

The official noted that the alliance had not received any request for assistance from the Iraqi authorities regarding the latest developments in Mosul.

Ankara resorted twice to paragraph IV in 2012 to request consultations with the States Member on the Syrian conflict.