Turkey suffered the martyrdom of three police officers during an ISIS operation in Yalova the other day. In the operation carried out simultaneously in 124 houses across the country to capture 137 ISIS members, an hours-long clash took place in a house in Yalova; 6 police officers were wounded in this clash. During the operation, 6 ISIS members were captured dead.
The day after the operation, 357 people were detained in a second operation organized in 22 provinces. Thus, in just a few days, nearly 500 people were detained in ISIS operations.
Not long ago, on September 8, 2025, a young ISIS sympathizer stormed a police station in the Balçova district of Izmir and martyred three police officers. In other words, Turkey has lost six martyrs due to religious terrorism in a few months.
As we enter the New Year, many places have canceled reservations due to fears of possible ISIS attacks. In the light of these developments, we will take a closer look at religious terrorism, or jihadist terrorism as many call it. First, let us take a brief look at how this process started.
The process that started with Afghanistan
Turkey was introduced to the concept of “jihad”, or war for religion, in the 1980s. In those years, it is known that a small number of Turks went to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet occupation in the ranks of the Afghan resistance fighters, who were then called ’mujahideen“. Again in the 1990s, some Islamic groups went to fight against the Serbs in Bosnia and the Russians in Chechnya. At the time, those who went to these countries were generally viewed positively.
However, those who went to Afghanistan under the name of “jihad”, especially from Arab countries, started to transform their experience into terrorism with the aim of establishing religious governments in other countries and organized themselves accordingly. Especially the Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden played a critical role in this process. Jihadists organized under the umbrella of al-Qaeda have now emerged as a global threat.
The jihadist I interviewed was killed by a US drone
Turkey faced the reality of this threat in 2003 with the bombings of synagogues and the HSBC building in Istanbul. It was discovered that the Turks involved in the attacks were fighting in Iraq in the ranks of al-Qaeda. In the following years, this problem was sort of shelved in Turkey. However, those who followed the issue closely knew that hundreds of Turks had traveled to Afghanistan and northern Pakistan to join Taliban and al-Qaeda affiliated camps under the name of “jihad”.
I was working for Habertürk Newspaper at the time and I did a lot of news about jihadists leaving Turkey. In fact, a news report I prepared based on my contacts with Turks staying in camps in Afghanistan, the images they sent me and the answers they gave to my questions made headlines. Interestingly, a man named Selahattin Türki, whom I contacted on the internet in those days and who answered my questions, would be killed in a US drone strike in northern Pakistan. The German Bild newspaper would write that this person was a Turk from Germany and carry him on its front page.
AKP's Syria policy paved the way for jihadist groups
The civil war that began in Syria in 2011 ushered in a golden age for jihadists. Jihadists from all over the world flocked to Syria and Iraq. According to media reports at the time, Turkey was claimed to be the primary route used by these people to cross into these countries. It was also claimed that thousands of Turkish citizens traveled to these countries to fight because of geographical proximity. The AKP government's tough stance against the Assad regime also encouraged those who were inclined in this direction.
The arrival of hundreds of thousands of people from Syria and Afghanistan to Turkey, with borders riddled with holes, raised concerns among a section of the society about “what is happening?”. This concern soon turned into reality. After the 2015 elections, the successive bomb attacks carried out by ISIS clearly showed the extent of the threat. The TSK's Operation Olive Branch against ISIS in northern Syria and the many martyrs killed in the process reminded us once again of the danger Turkey faces.
Foreign-based ISIS has sympathizers across Turkey
However, the most striking development has taken place in recent years. ISIS, which is losing power in Syria and Iraq, seems to have reached a serious mass of sympathizers in Turkey. In the last few years, hundreds of people have been detained in operations all over Turkey; some have been arrested, while others have been released. The continuity of the operations shows that ISIS, a foreign-based organization, has reached a wider and more widespread base in Turkey than even domestic terrorist organizations.
The fact that some of those captured include foreigners who have served in leadership positions in ISIS's Syria-Iraq branch has led to claims that Turkey is increasingly seen as a hiding place, even a safe zone, by the organization. Some may say, “What more is needed, there are operations against ISIS”. Yes, there are operations against ISIS, but I draw attention to the other dimension of the danger that is being ignored.
While operations are being carried out against ISIS members, there is also an unseen side
Turkish jihadists have not only joined the ranks of ISIS in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. They also participated heavily in Jabhat al-Nusra, founded by Ahmad al-Shara, who rules Syria today. At this point, it is necessary to take a brief look at the background of Shara, nicknamed Colani. Shara, who joined ISIS in his youth in Iraq and rose to Mosul responsibility, was sent to Syria by the organization when the Syrian civil war broke out and founded the organization that would later be known as Nusra. Shara refused to pledge allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and instead pledged allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Although ISIS declared that it had supposedly severed its ties with al-Qaeda as support from different countries increased over time, the militants of the organization it leads maintained their ideological ties with al-Qaeda. On the ground in Syria, ISIS and al-Nusra militants are known to frequently switch sides due to ideological affinity. Ahrar al-Sham, one of the organizations that attracted Turkish jihadists, was one of the organizations that admired al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham later merged with similar organizations to form HTS, with Shara at its head. It is this HTS that rules Syria today.
ISIS members can hide among ignored groups
Let's get to the point. Today, the AKP government cherishes Shara. Therefore, Turks belonging to the structures under the umbrella of HTS under his leadership do not seem to be under close surveillance like their ideological cousins, ISIS members. There is also no serious operation against these groups.
Faced with the reality of jihadist terrorism, Turkey would be making a historic mistake if it fights ISIS and ignores those who are involved in other jihadist structures just to appease Shara or other actors. ISIS fighters, who have been subjected to recent operations, can hide themselves by infiltrating into Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham, which are almost indistinguishable from the outside and have extensions in Turkey.
It should not be forgotten that the recent attack on US soldiers in Syria was carried out by a man who was close to Colani. This militant, who was actually a member of ISIS, had sheltered under the umbrella of HTS, but unmasked himself when the time came.
There is no guarantee that a similar process will not take place in Turkey. An approach that says “ISIS is bad, Colani's HTS is good” creates an artificial distinction between jihadist organizations in Turkey and leads to a big mistake. Jihadist terror will one day directly target differences within society, just as it did in Iraq and Syria.
For this reason, the approach against jihadist terrorism should not discriminate between groups, and operations should be carried out in a way to cover all these structures. Otherwise, in the future, we will ask ourselves, “Where did they come from, how did they get so organized?”, but the price may be too high.