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Turkish security making headway against Salafi-jihadi networks

Intelligence gathered in Syria has helped Ankara in its pursuit of violent Salafi-jihadi networks inside Turkey.
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Since the Jan. 1 nightclub attack in Istanbul, the Turkish government has perceptibly ramped up its struggle against extreme Salafi-jihadi networks in Turkey. This struggle by Turkish intelligence and the security establishment against the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda-affiliated networks of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — which is particularly active in Syria's Idlib province — lends added significance to the Turkish army’s intervention in Idlib about a month ago. The operation in Syria was not a unilateral move, but part of the de-escalation zone project agreed to with Russia and Iran in the Astana peace talks. That aside, it also comes with domestic security benefits.

Ankara’s amplifying of its struggle against Salafi-jihadi networks inside Turkey can be deduced from the number of operations conducted and suspects detained. Security sources told Al-Monitor that in 2016, Turkey detained some 2,700 people on suspicion of being Salafi-jihadis, while this year by October, some 4,000 people had already been detained. The number of operations so far this year have doubled compared with 2016 figures. Security sources noted that security operations have only been targeting violent networks and that nonviolent networks with significant popular bases of support have not yet become a focus.

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