Turkey attempts to stop foreign fighters leaving its shores

Turkish authorities are facing accusations they're not doing enough to stop border crossings - with foreign jihadists travelling through Turkey into Iraq and Syria.

Turkey's new Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in parliament

Turkey's new Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in parliament in Ankara on September 1, 2014.

Turkey's ambassador to Canberra Reha Keskintepe says Turkey designated Islamic State a terrorist group in October, 2013 and has done its best to seal its borders since then.

"Turkey has been provided with a list of names, individuals who may join extremists in Syria. And this list has at the moment 6,000 names on it. And the number of individuals who were denied entry through the no entry list was more than 4,000 last year," he says.

Considered a gateway between the Middle East and Europe, Turkey's geographical position means it's often used as a transit point between Europe and the Middle East for refugees and more recently Islamic militants.

Listen to Turkey's ambassador to Canberra Reha Keskintepe speaking with Peggy Giakoumelos.



Mr Keskintepe says while the international community including Australia is doing its best to stem the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq and Syria, the growth of Islamic State indicates means more needs to be done.

"All these measures are not sufficient since there are at the moment over 10,000 foreign fighters operating in Syria and Iraq. So all these measure that we are doing with our Western partners including Australia, have not proved to be enough," Mr Keskintepe says.

The fighting in Iraq and Syria has also seen Turkey face a new refugee influx this time from Iraq.

More recently about 16,000 members of the Yazidi religious minority are reported to have fled from Iraq into Turkey, to escape the offensive by Islamic State militants.

Turkey is already giving sanctuary to well over one-million refugees from the Syrian conflict.


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By Peggy Giakoumelos


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