The collapse of the Islamic State’s (IS) self-proclaimed “caliphate” in 2019 did not mark the end of the group’s terrorist activities. Despite the degradation of the group’s capabilities in Iraq and Syria, IS supporters in Turkiye remain a significant threat, plotting major terrorist attacks that have been largely thwarted by law enforcement. However, the group has been responsible for several devastating incidents, including the 2017 nightclub shooting and the January 2024 attack on an Istanbul church, making it the second-biggest terrorist threat to the country in recent years.
Terror-Free Turkiye
In response to the ongoing threat, Turkiye has implemented a zero-tolerance policy towards terrorist financing and radical activities under Operation Gurz (Mase). Whilst the “Terror-Free Turkiye” project has largely been aimed at tackling Kurdish terrorist groups this has also significantly impacted IS. The provincial police department, in coordination with the chief public prosecutor’s offices, the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), and other security forces, has been conducting large-scale investigations into IS activity, resulting in significant busts and seizures across various provinces.
Commitment to combating terrorism
The scale of Turkiye’s efforts is evident in the numbers. According to the Islamic State Interactive Map hosted by the Washington Institute, nearly 70 operations have been documented over the last two years, resulting in numerous arrests per operation and on occasion, hundreds of detentions. Since the start of 2025, Turkiye has detained at least 576 individuals suspected of IS-related activities, demonstrating its unwavering commitment to combating terrorism.
In recent months, Turkish law enforcement has made significant strides in disrupting IS operations. On April 11, 2025, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the arrest of 105 suspected terrorist members in a nationwide operation spanning 23 provinces. Two weeks later, another 210 suspects involved in financing and conducting IS activities were detained across 49 provinces, including major cities like Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir. Within Yerlikaya’s announcement he reiterated the countries commitment to the cause. “Our operations against terrorist organisations, which we carry out day and night, 365 days a year, continue uninterruptedly to ensure peace and stability in every region of our country”.
The types of activities for which individuals have been arrested include financial transfers, fundraising, recruitment, propaganda dissemination, weapons procurement, and attack plotting. While some have raised concerns that Turkiye may be using these operations to remove perceived obstacles, the sheer number of arrests and the level of threat posed by IS to the country suggest that Turkiye is making significant headway in its disruption efforts. In 2024 alone, at least 943 suspects were detained, and since 2013, Turkish authorities have frozen millions of Lira worth of assets to curb terrorism financing. These operations highlight the comprehensive and coordinated approach taken by Turkish law enforcement to target the various facets of IS’ operations.
Turkiye’s role in a wider international effort
Turkiye’s part of an international effort was evidenced when MIT captured a high-ranking militant of IS on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in cooperation with the Pakistani intelligence organization ISI. It was reported that the captured militant was Özgür Altun, who uses the organization name “Abu Yasir al Turki” was one of the people who gives the orders for the actions targeting civilians in Turkiye and Europe. Security sources stated that MIT, which monitors the people who were recruited into the organization in Turkiye and sent to Afghanistan via Pakistan to receive armed training, determined that the organizer was Altun, who was wanted for terrorist activities in Turkiye. It is also claimed that Altun was also responsible for the logistics and media activities of ISIS in Turkiye and is responsible for the organization’s Turkish propaganda broadcasts. It was reported that MIT contacted Pakistani intelligence ISI after receiving intelligence that Abu Yasir was about to cross from Afghanistan to Pakistan to come to Turkiye, and that he was caught crossing the border in a pinpoint operation with full cooperation from Pakistan and deported to Turkiye. Sources state that security sources have deciphered some of IS’s actions and militant recruitment efforts in Turkiye as a result of Altun’s capture with important digital material he had with him.
This was later followed by the arrest of Özgür Altun’s wife Ayşe Altun, who was arrested on the grounds that she was operating as a high-level manager in the armed terrorist organization ISIS, was caught in Pakistan and brought to Turkiye on the grounds that she managed Turkish publications in the organization’s media structure and provided financing to the organization through crypto money transfers.