Turkey detains 357 ISIS suspects in nationwide police raids – JURIST

Turkish police detained 357 people on Tuesday in large-scale, coordinated operations targeting the Islamic State group, according to the country’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.

Authorities carried out raids across 21 provinces following a deadly clash between police and ISIS militants in Yalova, a small northwestern city, amid heightened security ahead of New Year’s celebrations. Three police officers and six presumed ISIS militants, all Turkish nationals, were killed in the Monday shoot-out in Yalova.

Yerlikaya stated that the subsequent raids were carried out simultaneously by provincial police units, working with chief public prosecutors’ offices and the national counterterrorism and intelligence departments. The raids took place in major cities including Istanbul and Ankara, as well as in Yalova and several border and interior provinces.

A statement from the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said suspects are accused of belonging to ISIS, maintaining contact with ISIS elements in conflict zones, or raising money under the guise of charity and sending it to ISIS-linked networks. It stated that some suspects were identified through analysis of digital evidence seized during earlier investigations.

Yerlikaya further said that Turkey has expanded nationwide security measures for the New Year holiday period. He emphasized that all Interior Ministry units are on heightened alert, including police, gendarmerie, coast guard, migration authorities, and emergency response teams. Authorities are to use cameras, license plate recognition systems, facial recognition systems, and body-worn cameras to support security operations. These measures will be in effect for four days from December 30 to January 2.

Although ISIS no longer controls large areas of territory in Syria and Iraq (both of which border Turkey), officials say the group continues to operate through small, clandestine cells. Militants have carried out several deadly attacks in Turkey in the past, including a New Year’s Eve nightclub shooting in Istanbul in the first hours of 2017 that killed 39 people.