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.
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