Turkey escorts scores of militants to join Daesh in Syria: Report
Turkey’s intelligence agency has delivered more than 60 foreign militants over the Turkish border into Syria to fight in the ranks of the Daesh terrorist group, a new report says.
The National Intelligence Organization (MİT) ensured a safe passage for the Daesh elements who had been arrested by Turkish police between April and September last year for suspected involvement in terrorism-related activities, Turkey's English-language newspaper Today's Zaman reported on Wednesday, citing a report by Turkish Nokta weekly news magazine.
MİT collected the militants directly from jail and handed them over to Daesh handlers in Syria through the Akcakale border gate, situated in Turkey’s southern Sanliurfa Province, the report said.
The prisoners should have been deported, but they were delivered instead to MİT agents with the knowledge and authorization of Sanliurfa police chief Eyup Pinarbasi, the report added.
The paper said CCTV cameras were turned off while border personnel were ushered away from the meeting spot on the day of delivery of the 60-strong group.
Militants from the US, Turkey, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, East Turkestan and Australia were among the militants, the report said.
Back in June, Today's Zaman accused MİT of helping Daesh elements cross into Syria based on a footage obtained by the center-left Turkish daily, Cumhuriyet.
The video showed bus drivers admitting that they had transferred “heavily bearded people, who looked scruffy” to the border at the order of MİT.
The militants were collected from the Atme camp in northwestern Syria, transported via Turkey's southeastern border and dropped off in Akcakale town, where they reentered Syria, according to footage.
Ankara has come under fire for not doing enough to halt the advance of Daesh as well as for its perceived reluctance to crack down on militants using its territory to travel into Syria, gripped by deadly unrest since March 2011.
The US and its regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey - are supporting the militants operating inside the Arab country.
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