He was taken hostage in June 2014 and held for 101 days along with 48 other diplomats after Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants took over the city, being released under undisclosed circumstances by the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MİT) on 20 September 2014.

Öztürk Yılmaz was born in 1970 in Ardahan, completing his early education there before graduating from the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) Department of International Relations.

He began working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1996, serving as a manager in the departments responsible for the Balkans, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus.

After 101 days and alleged negotiations between the government and ISIL, all 49 hostages were released and brought back to Turkey via Syria by the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MİT) in September 2014.

[6] He has since criticised the Turkish government's decision to send troops to Mosul to train Kurdish fighters against ISIL, an incursion that had resulted in the souring of relations between Turkey and Iraq.