March 01, 2018•Update: March 01, 2018
By Volkan Kasik
MALATYA
Turkey has maintained the struggle to destroy terrorist organizations, like Daesh, that attempt to intrude into Turkey's territory, in both domestic and external operations.
Numerous Daesh members were arrested in February; police forces also seized documents, weapons, and ammunition.
In operations which take place generally at dusk, the security forces have apprehended 189 suspects, including foreigners who were allegedly involved at the terrorist organization's administrative levels, according to information gathered by Anadolu Agency reporters.
The court ruled that 17 individuals be remanded in custody and some were deported. Other suspects are still under investigation.
In Syria, under the scope of Operation Olive Branch, YPG / PKK-Daesh targets were also hit.
Operations in February
An Iraqi national suspected of being a Daesh member was arrested in the Samsun province.
In Kocaeli, an individual was suspected of being a media operative of the terrorist organization. He allegedly published accounts of the terrorist organization's activities online and received instructions to stand by for another task as a “dead cell" in a house.
82 individuals were remanded on the operation against Daesh. 77 of them are confirmed to be foreigners.
Three people were arrested for allegedly being Daesh members in Mersin province and another in Gaziantep. A Kyrgyz suspect was also arrested at the Samsun Yusuf Ziya Yilmaz Intercity Bus terminal.
In separate operations, five suspects were arrested in Mersin, including three who are believed to be involved in the Daesh execution unit.
Seven suspects were arrested in the Konya province on the grounds that they were spreading Daesh propaganda on social media and had insulted the founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as well as President Recep Erdogan.
Court hearings
Seventeen foreigners suspected of being Daesh members and of preparing terror acts were apprehended in Ankara. Police forces also seized a large number of material.
Following an anti-Daesh operation in the Kayseri province, two of three foreign suspects were remanded in custody.
In Istanbul, 22 -- 14 of whom were foreigners -- were apprehended in an operation against the terrorist organization Daesh.
In similar operations, a Syrian was arrested in the Dikili district of Izmir while a female suspect was taken into custody in the Kirsehir province.
in February, Omer Zir, a Syrian national who was tried for "being a member of a terrorist organization" was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison in Kocaeli.
In Sakarya, the ongoing court hearings of 11 suspects, including an alleged Daesh high-level operative, Halis Bayancuk codenamed Abu Hanzala, have led to further investigations. Other suspects were released but restricted from leaving the country.
The court hearings in Kilis of British citizen Stefan Samuel Aristidou and Kary Paul Kleman, from the U.S., suspected of being Daesh members are still ongoing.
