Ankara (DPA) -- An Assyrian Christian priest was taken hostage in south-eastern Turkey Wednesday, with the kidnappers demanding 300,000 euros for his release, CNN Turk television reported. Father Daniel Savci, 55, was taken hostage by unidentified people at around 3 p.m. They stopped his car as he was travelling to the Mor Yakup Monastery in a village near the town of Midyat.

The priest's kidnappers later telephoned a different church and demanded a ransom of 300,000 euros.

After years of emigration, especially in recent years of being caught up in fighting between Turkish troops and Kurdish rebels, there are estimated to be only a few thousand Assyrian Christians still living in eastern Turkey.