ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkish police arrested 24 Iraqis for alleged ties to the Islamic State (ISIS) in the central province of Kirsehir on Thursday night, state media reported on Friday. Counter-terrorism units in Kirsehir city carried out simultaneous raids against 26 suspects at 32 addresses and arrested 24 people. They are searching for the two remaining suspects, according to Anadolu Agency. ISIS-related documents and materials were confiscated in the raids. Turkish security forces have carried out several large-scale arrests of foreign ISIS suspects recently. On November 13, they arrested eight Iraqis in the Black Sea province of Samsun. On Monday, forces in Kayseri province arrested seven Syrians allegedly involved in armed ISIS activities in Syria's Azaz town between 2011 and 2015. Turkey has not disclosed the ethnicity of the Iraqis arrested and there have been no comments from the Iraqi government. Turkey is a member of the multinational Global Coalition against Daesh (ISIS), formed when ISIS took control of swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014. Though Ankara has undertaken domestic operations against the extremist group, its efforts beyond its borders have been limited. A 2016-2017 Turkish military campaign in northern Syria, dubbed operation Euphrates Shield, aimed to push ISIS fighters away from the border and halt the advance of Kurdish forces. Ankara has conducted two other military operations against Kurdish forces in Syria, in 2018 and 2019. Ankara has been accused of providing financial and military support for ISIS, a charge it has denied.
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