Three sentenced to prison over Daesh links

A court yesterday sentenced three people in absentia to over six years in prison over links to Daesh.

An Adana court in southern Turkey sentenced Nureddin Ocak, Ümit Hazar and İpek Suysal to six years and three months in prison for being members of an armed terrorist group.

A fourth suspect – only identified by the initials E.A. – was freed due to lack of evidence.

The four suspects had been arrested in 2015 in an anti-Daesh operation in Adana province. They were later released pending trial. Daesh emerged in Iraq and Syria, both of which share a border with Turkey in 2014. Turkey is tackling an influx of foreign fighters looking to sneak into Syria and Iraq where Daesh controls towns and large swathes of territory. Since the terrorist group's emergence, Turkey has detained over 5,000 suspects and launched Operation Euphrates Shield last year to back Syrian opposition groups fighting Daesh in Syria. Daesh quickly became one of the most active terrorist groups in Turkey over a span of two years. It has been blamed for a string of attacks in the country, ranging from suicide bombings to gun attacks. In January, a lone Daesh gunman stormed a popular nightclub in Istanbul and killed 39 people during New Year's Eve celebrations. The gunman was apprehended a few weeks later. Earlier this month, police thwarted a suicide bombing targeting a police station in Mersin.