Ahval, July 25, 2021
Uyghur, Turkmen and central Asian migrants living in Turkey serve as a significant pool for membership in radical Islamist terrorist organisations, according to a report presented to the United Nations Security Council, Voice of America Turkish reported on Saturday.
Members of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria’s northern Idlib province see Turkey as an important gateway, according to the 22-page U.N. report detailing global terror activities in the first six-months of 2021.
Terrorist organisations such as ISIS and Al Qaeda are exerting efforts to include in their group people with Turkic nationalities living in Turkey, the report said, while pointing out that a number of ISIS militants have been arrested attempting to enter Turkey from its southern Hatay province gate.
Tukrey has long held a reputation as a route for foreign ISIS fighters travelling to Syria and Iraq and has been accused of failing to prioritise threat posed by the jihadist organisation, which is believed to have carried out 300 deaths in attacks in the country between 2014 and 2017.
The militants for years took advantage of Turkey’s porous southern border.
ISIS continues to rely on “logistical hubs” inside Turkey for its finances, the U.S. Treasury saidin a report in January. In April, Turkey granted citizenship to eight members of ISIS, whose assets have been seized over terror links, according to Ankara Gazetecisi news website.
There are at least 10,000 radical Islamists in Idlib, according to the report, and ISIS is resorting to guerrilla warfare tactics in some regions of Syria.