Turkey
A wall painted by a falg used by ISIS is seen outside Mosul following its recapture by Peshmerga forces. Photo: Fazel Hawramy/Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s Interior Ministry on Friday announced the capture of 304 suspected members of the Islamic State (ISIS).
The arrests were made in a large operation conducted with the coordination of Turkey’s intelligence and counterterrorism forces that took place simultaneously in 32 provinces, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X.
The 304 people detained are accused of links with ISIS and some allegedly were operating inside Turkey.
Istanbul province saw the largest number of suspects with 86 people detained, followed by the capital Ankara with 39, and the western province of Izmir with 20.
ISIS formerly controlled large areas of Iraq and Syria, but the jihadists were declared territorially defeated in 2019 after their rapid rise to power in 2014 exacerbated security and humanitarian crises in the region.
While the group no longer controls any territory, it continues to pose a security risk through abductions, hit-and-run attacks, and bombings.
Turkey is a member of the Global Coalition against ISIS, but has been accused of financially and militarily supporting the terror group, according to a report from a former United Nations advisor. Ankara denies the claim.
In November 2022, Syria’s representative to the UN accused Turkey of sponsoring extremist organizations, such as ISIS, inside Syria’s borders.
The arrests were made in a large operation conducted with the coordination of Turkey’s intelligence and counterterrorism forces that took place simultaneously in 32 provinces, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X.
The 304 people detained are accused of links with ISIS and some allegedly were operating inside Turkey.
Istanbul province saw the largest number of suspects with 86 people detained, followed by the capital Ankara with 39, and the western province of Izmir with 20.
ISIS formerly controlled large areas of Iraq and Syria, but the jihadists were declared territorially defeated in 2019 after their rapid rise to power in 2014 exacerbated security and humanitarian crises in the region.
While the group no longer controls any territory, it continues to pose a security risk through abductions, hit-and-run attacks, and bombings.
Turkey is a member of the Global Coalition against ISIS, but has been accused of financially and militarily supporting the terror group, according to a report from a former United Nations advisor. Ankara denies the claim.
In November 2022, Syria’s representative to the UN accused Turkey of sponsoring extremist organizations, such as ISIS, inside Syria’s borders.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment