Turkish police on Tuesday detained 46 people in operations against Daesh, while another suspect remains at large. The Counterterrorism Bureau of the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office issued detention warrants for 47 suspects in an investigation into the terrorist groups and their financiers.
Authorities said the suspects were in contact with Daesh members in “conflict zones,” referring to Syria, where the group still has members. Operations were held in Istanbul and three other cities to capture the suspects.
Türkiye has been hit by several major attacks claimed by Daesh, including a 2017 nightclub shooting that killed dozens of people.
Last month, operations in 24 cities led to the capture of 100 Daesh suspects. Authorities have intensely targeted Daesh cells with Gürz (Mace) operations, detaining at least 943 suspects in 2024 alone. Since the 2019 collapse of the self-proclaimed “caliphate,” some suspected Daesh members have settled in Türkiye, operating a so-called Khorasan Province (Daesh-K) network, which looks for “new methods” and recruits more foreign nationals for its activities after constant counterterrorism operations became a “challenge,” according to Turkish security sources.
The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) thwarted the terrorist group's efforts for recruitment, obtaining funds and logistics support after its latest operation in the aftermath of a church shooting in Istanbul in January. Turkish authorities said that since June 2023, more than 3,600 people with suspected ties to the terrorist group have been arrested. Daesh remains the second biggest threat of terrorism for Türkiye, which faces security risks from multiple terrorist groups and was one of the first countries to declare it as a terrorist group in 2013.
In December last year, Turkish security forces detained 32 suspects over alleged links with Daesh, who were planning attacks on churches and synagogues, as well as the Iraqi Embassy. Terrorists from Daesh and other groups, such as the PKK and its Syrian wing, the YPG, rely on a network of members and supporters in Türkiye.
Turkish authorities have ordered the freezing of millions of lira worth of assets since 2013 to crack down on terrorism financiers in line with United Nations sanctions.
