ANKARA: Turkiye’s forces on Thursday claimed to have detained 417 terrorists trying to cross the border this year after the country increased border surveillance.
“474 people who attempted unlawful border crossings were apprehended at our borders in the last week. These boundaries are protected by the intense measures in our republican history in addition to a multi-layered security framework. Thirty-seven of them were recognized as terrorists, with thirty of them having ties to the Gulenist Terror Group (FET), Rear Admiral Zeki Aktürk, the Defense Ministry’s press representative in Ankara, told reporters.
As a result, he continued, “during the year, the number of individuals caught while attempting to cross our borders illegally increased to 5,756 and a total of 417 terrorist organization members, of whom 285 were FET members, were handed over to law enforcement.
In addition, 145,697 attempted border crossings were stopped.
Additionally, 4,857 kilograms of drugs and 1,911 tablets have been confiscated in operations since the beginning of the year, 54 kilograms of which have been found in the past week, said Aktürk.
Responding to videos circulating on social media depicting irregular migrants crossing the border illegally, Aktürk highlighted that these clips were manipulated for polemics rather than reflecting reality. He denounced them as “stock footage used for political considerations, personal ambitions, unrealistic, exaggerated, misleading discourses.”
Turkiye’s anti-terrorism efforts have been unwavering, resulting in the killing of 44 terrorists within the past week. This strategy aims to eradicate terrorism at its roots. This year alone, the tally of eliminated terrorists has reached 1,146. Since July 24, 2015, it stands at 38,489, he said.
