ISIS is Exploiting a Crucial Weakness in Turkey that Lets Them Walk ‘Free’

Turkey's airstrikes on ISIS targets in northern Syria and Kurdish PKK camps in northern Iraq have coincided with a nationwide crackdown on suspected militants and extremists operating within its own borders.

But a recent terror attack in the southeast has drawn attention to the many extremists potentially slipping through the cracks due to gaps in Turkey's legal system.

“There are multiple reports of Turkish IS members who return from Syria and are let go after their trial,” Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Business Insider via email. “This is largely due to the unclear legal definition of” ISIS (also known as Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh) in Turkey.

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Even if the militants are caught by Turkish authorities crossing the border, prosecutors generally can't keep them detained for long, Schanzer notes.

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“If the individuals were identified as PKK, for example, they could be detained and convicted for being part of a legally-defined terrorist organization,” Schanzer said. “But because these individuals are [Islamic State], they cannot be convicted unless lawyers can prove that they committed terrorism inside Turkey.”

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“There have to have been high level ties between ISIS and Turkey,” Schanzer said. “The notion that there was no communication between ISIS and Turkey, I can’t accept it.”

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