A total of 27 suspects who have been financing the Daesh terrorist organization have been detained, the Ankara public prosecutor’s office announced Tuesday.
In a statement, the office said that investigations had been launched on the financial sources of Daesh by the Terrorist Crimes Investigation Bureau, the Ankara Provincial Police Department and the Provincial Gendarmerie Command.
The 27 suspects, five of whom were Turkish, were determined to have carried out the crime of “financing terrorism” through providing resources to the terrorist organization through cash aid via bank accounts opened for the terrorist organization. Moreover, the suspects were also found to be carrying out activities in the name of Daesh in Syria and Iraq.
The operations were conducted simultaneously in seven provinces centered in Ankara.
The procedures for the capture and the referral of the suspects to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office are continuing by the Provincial Police Department and Provincial Gendarmerie Command Anti-Terrorism Branch teams.
Countrywide operations against Daesh are high on Ankara’s agenda.
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 2024.
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 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.