Local authorities were not immediately available to confirm the information.

The trio was seized by separatist rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on July 8 during a climbing expedition to Mount Ararat in Agri province.

The rebels had said they would hold the hostages until Berlin ended its crackdown on PKK supporters in Germany, which is home to about 2.4 million immigrants from Turkey, including about 600,000 Kurds.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a personal appeal for the release of the Germans, but her foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, at the time rejected the demands for a change in policy in return for their freedom.

Listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, the PKK has waged a bloody campaign for self-rule in the Kurdish-majority east and southeast since 1984.

The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives, but the group's attacks in the past 10 years have usually targeted security forces rather than civilians.