Turkey steps up to stop jihadist flow to Syria, Iraq

Ankara is rolling up its sleeves to stanch the rush of militants transiting its soil on their way to join the jihad in the country’s southern neighbors. The efforts come on the back of an EU action plan on the issue Turkey has been stepping up measures to prevent the flow of jihadists into crisis-torn neighbors Syria and Iraq, amid growing fears that they will return to their home countries and plan attacks in future.

Authorities have begun to talk with families whose children have been recruited by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Terror and intelligence officials have reached up to 370 families and are constructing a profile of the people who have gone to Syria to fight alongside forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad.

In light of the information obtained from the families, some associations who were alleged to have helped people to cross into Syria are being investigated, including three Istanbul-based organizations that are sending humanitarian aid into the war-torn country.

According to preliminary studies, most of the recruits have an education background from religious schools and loose family ties, with some of them having criminal backgrounds. Security officials have captured 13 Turks before joining ISIL in the last two months and returned them to their families. The families of 163 Turkish citizens have recently applied to the security forces, reporting that their relatives have joined ISIL to fight in Syria.  According to the latest Turkish intelligence reports, there are currently around 600-700 Turks in ISIL. Security measures have recently been intensified along the border against illegal crossings, and thousands of European jihadists were recently blacklisted by...