Turkey arrests 357 suspected ISIS members in nationwide raids

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey on Tuesday arrested 357 suspected Islamic State (ISIS) members in simultaneous operations across 21 provinces, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.

“This morning, in 21 provinces, we apprehended 357 suspected ISIS members in simultaneous operations conducted by our police,” Yerlikaya said in a post on X.

He said multiple security agencies were involved in the nationwide operations that were carried out in the cities of Adana, Agri, Ankara, Antalya, Bingol (Cewlig in Kurdish), Corum, Denizli, Erzincan, Gaziantep (Dilok), Giresun, Istanbul, Kastamonu, Kilis, Konya, Mugla, Nigde, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa (Riha), Sirnak, Yalova, and Van.

“Just as we have never given opportunities to those trying to bring this homeland to its knees through terrorism up to this day, we will never give them opportunities in the future either,” the interior minister said.

The arrests come a day after three Turkish police officers were killed and nine others wounded during an anti-ISIS operation in the northwestern city of Yalova, where six ISIS members were also killed in the confrontation, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency.

ISIS members are frequently arrested in counterterrorism operations across Turkey.

The group seized large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014, declaring a so-called caliphate. It was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, but continues to pose security threats, particularly in eastern Syria and disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil.

Turkey is a member of the US-led Global Coalition Against Daesh (ISIS). Ankara has repeatedly denied accusations that it previously provided financial or military support to the group, despite hundreds of deaths in Turkey from ISIS-linked attacks.