JEDDAH: Turkey’s main opposition the Republican People’s Party (CHP) has demanded a thorough investigation after a group of Daesh members were revealed to be Turkish nationals.
The CHP has revealed the details of the recent decision of the government to freeze the assets of 365 individuals and 12 companies linked to terror groups.
The Treasury and Finance Ministry announced last week that the assets of members of terror groups, including Daesh, have been blocked.
The list of individuals whose assets were confiscated was published in the Official Gazette No. 31447, but eight of these individuals were shockingly listed as Turkish nationals with tax numbers attached.
These individuals — Ziad Alzhouri, Hasan Krayem, Hasan Maher Abdullah Abdullah, Mohamad Qassem, Fayez Alfliti, Saad Ali Saad Saad, Salim Ahmet Bakr Abboosh, and Yusuf El Ali Elhasan — are mostly from Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon.
With a parliamentary inquiry, CHP’s Ankara deputy Tekin Bingol asked the government to investigate the matter seriously and transparently.
“These people are traveling freely within Turkish territories, they are conducting trade activities. And we notice this when their assets are frozen,” Bingol said.
Daesh, which has been listed as a terror group by Turkey since 2013, has carried out several bloody terror attacks in the country, with at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks, and four armed attacks. Daesh killed 315 people and injured hundreds in the attacks.
Bingol said that the authorities should expose those who provided these people with citizenship rights, adding: “Those who are coming to our country and getting privileges should be thoroughly investigated for their involvement in terror attacks. Otherwise, the local networks they are involved with are likely to generate new terror attacks.”
“These Daesh militants have the blood of our 103 citizens on their hands,” he said, referring to the twin suicide bombing attack carried out by Daesh on a rally near Ankara’s main train station on Oct. 10, 2015.
The CHP is demanding the government explains how foreign militants are provided with Turkish identity cards. The party has requested that the government reveals all trade relations that the Daesh members conducted with their tax numbers.
“How were they allowed to conduct trade activities? Which goods did they trade? How did they find the money to manage their business? Those who are responsible should immediately be punished,” Bingol said in his address to the Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu and Treasury and Finance Minister Lutfi Elvan.
In recent weeks, Turkish police forces have conducted countrywide anti-terror operations and arrested dozens of Daesh suspects, including foreign fighters.
Official figures show that some 2,000 people have been arrested and 7,000 others deported in anti-Daesh operations in Turkey over the past three years.
