Eight newly minted Turkish citizens revealed to be ISIS members
Eight foreign national ISIS members were revealed to have become Turkish citizens, raising eyebrows about the security clearing process prior to gaining citizenship in the country. The issue was revealed with an April 7 decree that froze the assets of a total of 365 people on the grounds of their affiliations to "terrorist organizations."
Duvar English
A decree that froze the assets of a total of 365 people on April 7 on the grounds of their affiliation to "terrorist organizations" revealed that eight foreign national ISIS members were granted Turkish citizenships, ankaragazetecesi.com reported.
Signed by Treasury and Finance Minister Lütfi Elvan and Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, the decree froze the financial assets of 365 persons and 12 institutions on the grounds that they were members of a variety of entities deemed "terrorist organizations" by Ankara.
Some 85 people were detected to have relations to ISIS, eight of whom were foreign nationals who later obtained Turkish citizenship: 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.
The eight foreign national ISIS members' citizenships raised eyebrows about Turkey's security clearing process prior to giving out citizenship.
Members of the government's top suspect for the failed coup attempt of 2016, the network of U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen, had the largest number of members among the 365 persons on the decree, with some 205 members' assets being frozen.
Gülen himself also had his assets frozen via the decree, although some of the top suspects of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt were left out of the list of names, including fugitives Adil Öksüz and Zekeriya Öz.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) had some 77 members' assets frozen via the April 7 decree.