(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) A man has been arrested on suspicion of helping three British girls cross into Syria to join ISIL as other travellers are detained.
A Syrian dentist has been detained in Turkey's southeastern province of Sanliurfa for allegedly helping three British girls cross the border to Syria and join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Turkish media reported.
The man, identified in reports as Mohammed al-Rashad, told police that he meets the foreigners, who intend to join ISIL, in Istanbul and helps them travel to Syria, authorities said.
"I was delivering the information of these foreigners who cross the border to Canada. As my family live in Syria, upon the request of ISIL, I was helping foreigners crossing the border, out of fear," Turkish media quoted from his statement.
Turkey has been described as a favoured gateway for ISIL partisans to reach the violent extremist organisation in neighbouring Syria.
Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, both 15 years old, and 16-year-old Kadiza Sultana, left their homes in London on February 17th and crossed into Syria via Turkey to join with ISIL's militants.
Meanwhile, in the wake of criticism of the girls' trip, Turkey has stepped up efforts to stop people from reaching ISIL and officials have called on other nations to identify those believed to be traveling to reach the radical group.
Turkish security officials recently arrested three British teenagers in Istanbul believed to be on their way to joining ISIL.
Authorities announced that the trio, all males whose ages were reported to be between 17 and 19, were sent back to England.
According to a Dogan News Agency report, al-Rashad greeted 12 British people, including three teen-age girls, at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, then brought them to Gaziantep and passed them to an ISIL commander.
Kamer Kasim, the deputy head of Ankara-based think tank group USAK, said nations opposing ISIL must prevent young people from leaving to join extremist groups. "Instead of blaming the destination country, the original country should take its own measures and not allow the suspects to leave," he told SES Türkiye.
In case of the three young girls, British intelligence units didn't share information that they entered Turkey as anything other than ordinary British citizens, he said.
Turkey's Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz announced that during 2014, Turkish security forces caught 9,488 people from 40 different countries who intended to cross the border to Syria to join ISIL.
Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, a professor at Ankara's Gazi University and the head of the International Strategic and Security Research Centre (USGAM) in Ankara, said intelligence agencies had allowed people join to ISIL.
"This is a covered war," he said. "This war is not between armies."
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