Twenty-One Members of IS Arrested in Turkey

On July 10, Turkish police arrested 21 people suspected of being members of the Islamic State (IS) in a major anti-terrorism operation. Three were foreigners, whose nationalities have not been released. Police also seized two hunting rifles, bullets, IS documents, electronics, and military uniforms. Arrest warrants had been issued for at least 30 people prior to the operation.

Several addresses in Istanbul, the Sanliurfa province near Syria, the Mersin province in the south, and the Kocaeli province east of Istanbul were raided. The Turkish suspects are believed to be helping IS recruit European fighters and helping them travel to Syria to join the group. The three foreigners were trying to go to Syria to fight for the group. All were taken to police headquarters in the provinces in which they were arrested.

The operation was conducted after a US delegation visited Turkey earlier this week. In discussions, Turkey promised to be more cooperative in the fight against IS. The delegation, headed by retired General John Allen, made steps toward reaching a deal with Turkey that would allow the US-led coalition forces to use the Incirlik military air base in the country’s southern Adana province to conduct airstrikes. In return, Turkey wants US help in establishing a safe zone in northern Syria near their border. The two countries have been negotiating over the details of these two points since last year.

Turkey, a member of NATO, has faced international criticism for not contributing to the fight against IS, and it has a number of reasons for not wanting to take part in the battle. It wants to see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad removed from office; fighting IS and subsequently stabilizing the country goes against its political interests. In the past, it has said that it will only join the fight against IS if the US helps to set up the buffer zone in northern Syria, which the US has been reluctant to do. Additionally, the Turkish government and IS both hate the Kurds, who are an incredibly effective on-the-ground fighting force against IS. Seeing the Kurds fall at the hands of IS would be a political victory for Turkish President Erdogan.

In an interview last year, a former member of IS going by the pseudonym Sherko Omer, who initially travelled to Syria to join the Free Syrian Army’s fight against Assad but found himself forced into joining IS, explained Turkey’s role in aiding the group. He said that Turkey actually provided support by not doing anything to stop its illicit activities. According to him, the Turkish army was providing IS weapons and ammunition while allowing the militants to cross the border with Syria, and IS military commanders openly discussed their collaboration with Turkish officials.

In a separate interview, Salih Muslim, the co-chairman of Syria’s Kurdish Democratic Union Party, talked about many of the same things as Omer. He acknowledged that asserting the Turkish government directly aids IS may be an overstatement, but he explained that the government clearly turned a blind eye to the operations of Turkish NGOs that have helped foreign fighters travel to Syria. As evidence of Turkish complicity, he talked of the Kurds finding Turkish travel documents on the bodies of IS killed militants, suggesting that they were purposefully given the papers to allow them to easily cross the Syrian border.

Given Turkey’s history of helping IS both directly and indirectly, the July 10 arrests raises two questions: why now? and how serious is Turkey about maintaining this tough stance on IS?

In answer to the first question, the arrests appear to be Turkey’s attempt at demonstrating that it has chosen to stop letting IS operate freely within its borders. Given their timing immediately after the departure of the US delegation, the July 10 operation seems to be a gesture of goodwill, providing evidence that Turkey truly wants to be a part of the fight to defeat the group.

The second question is more difficult to answer due to the fact that Turkey has aided IS in the past. The US-led coalition, which wants to use Turkey as a staging site for airstrikes, must keep in mind the political reasons why Turkey did not originally work to take down IS. Turkey must be closely monitored to ensure that it keeps its word and continues to help fight the group moving forward.