Turkey must finally stop logistical support for terrorist group "Islamic State"!

The German federal government must urge Turkey to inhibit any logistical support for the terrorist group "Islamic State" (IS) and also the Islamist al-Nusra front, demands the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP). "Now that Resolution 2170 was adopted by the Security Council of the United Nations last Friday, Turkey must finally take credible measures to work against the IS-fighters in their own country and to stop the Islamist extremists from passing through Turkey to Syria and to Iraq," said Kamal Sido, the STP's Middle East consultant, in Göttingen on Monday. According to UN Resolution 2170, all governments must try stop any financial support for the terrorist group "Islamic State" (IS) and the Islamist al-Nusra Front and to keep them from recruiting new fighters.

"It is unacceptable that Turkey, as a NATO-member, serves as a retreat area for extremists who have been terrorizing the civilian population in Syria for more than two years – and are now threatening Iraq," said Sido. On the internet, there are still pictures of Islamists with IS-flags who publicly collect money for their "holy war" in Syria in Turkey and spread their propaganda. The few Christian Assyrian-Aramaeans and Yezidis who are still living in Turkey are in deep concern about the fact that Turkey is still a transit country for jihadists from all over the world.

Christians from Tur Abdin in south-eastern Anatolia reported that they observed about 30 "long- bearded strangers" in the Muslim villages of Eshtrako and Gundeke Khace close to the Turkish-Syrian border in the past few weeks. The villages belong to the district of Midyat. Several Turkish, German and international media had reported that there are jihadists in Turkey. Apparently, 13 IS-members were arrested by the Kurdish PKK in south-eastern Anatolia on August 13.

The STP's Middle East consultant, Dr. Kamal Sido, is available for further questions: +49 551 499 06 18 or nahost@gfbv.de.

Header Photo: Members of the STP at a silent vigil during the visit of Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan in Berlin in February 2014. Hanno Schedler/GfbV