ISIS's Turkish Homecoming
by Con Coughlin • October 12, 2019 at 5:00 am
It is, therefore, the epitome of hypocrisy for Mr Erdogan to offer to take responsibility for the ISIS fighters being held in Kurdish-run detention camps... If that really were to happen, and the ISIS captives were repatriated to Turkey, it would, for some, be more like a homecoming.
The far more worrying prospect is that the captives may be able to escape, and return to the ranks of ISIS's terrorist infrastructure....
The ISIS caliphate might no longer exist, but the terrorist organisation itself still continues to operate. Indeed, the latest intelligence assessments are that ISIS is regrouping in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen, with the aim of launching a fresh wave of terror attacks against Western targets.
Mr Trump's claim that the war against ISIS is over may prove to be short-lived.
One of the more ludicrous suggestions to have been made during Turkey's military offensive against the Syrian Kurds is that, in return for Washington's approval, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would take responsibility for the estimated 90,000 ISIS fighters and their dependents, currently languishing in Kurdish-controlled detention centres.
It is one of the worst kept secrets in Western intelligence circles that, for long periods during the brutal Syrian conflict, Mr Erdogan's regime supported a number of groups that enjoyed close affiliation with ISIS, as well as other Islamist terror groups such as Al-Qaeda.
It is, therefore, the epitome of hypocrisy for Mr Erdogan to offer to take responsibility for the ISIS fighters being held in Kurdish-run detention camps such as the al-Hol complex in eastern Syria. If that really were to happen, and the ISIS captives were repatriated to Turkey, it would, for some, be more like a homecoming.
