Türkiye arrests 119 accused of links to ISIL

ANKARA

Türkiye's interior ministry said on July 18 that authorities had arrested 119 people across the country accused of links to the ISIL terror group.

"(The) 199 suspects were arrested in a police operation carried out in 30 provinces against the Daesh terrorist organization," including in Istanbul and Ankara, the ministry said, using another name for the ISIL.

Charges levelled against those apprehended included ISIL group membership, posting ISIL propaganda on social media and financing ISIL through intermediaries or "so-called charities", the ministry said.

In late June, Turkish police killed a man suspected of ISIL links in an exchange of gunfire in the south of Ankara, two weeks before a NATO summit was held in the capital.

After that, 209 people suspected of links to the ISIL group or to far-left groups were arrested in Ankara on orders from the city's chief prosecutor.