Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm
Two Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters deported to Turkey after being held in Greece were released by Turkish authorities, Nordic Monitor has uncovered.
The men, disguised as refugees and smuggled out of Turkey through ISIS networks operating in Istanbul, were identified by Greek authorities and detained there prior to their deportation back to Turkey.
In stark contrast to the actions of Greek authorities, Turkish officials released the fighters, fully aware that they were likely to attempt another crossing into Greece using new identities.
Turkish police were compelled to arrest the fighters only after a terrorist attack on the Church of Santa Maria (Meryem Ana Doğuş Kilisesi) in Istanbul’s Sarıyer district on January 28, 2024. The attack claimed one life, and the casualty count could have been higher had one of the attackers’ firearms not malfunctioned.
The scandal surrounding the lenient treatment of ISIS fighters was unveiled through court documents, which included detailed statements from the fighters. These statements described their journey to Greece and identified key smugglers and operators of safe houses within the network.
The first individual is Fadi Ali Algzar, a 37-year-old Iraqi national, who disclosed that he stayed in an ISIS safe house in Greece operated by an Iraqi man codenamed Amir. In a statement to the public prosecutor, made following his detention as a suspect in the church attack, Algzar explained that he had been placed in a house in Istanbul, used by ISIS as a temporary stop for smuggling operations. While there, he was awaiting orders to attempt another crossing into Greece.
Another ISIS militant who stayed in the same house with Algzar is 32-year-old Ahmed al-Hanash, a Syrian national. Al-Hanash had also served time in a Greek prison before being deported to Turkey. Like Algzar, he was planning another attempt to reach Europe via Greece.
Records obtained by Nordic Monitor reveal that Hanash was registered as a refugee in Turkey under the foreign national identity number 99222046958. He illegally crossed into Turkey from Syria in early 2016 and subsequently established a life there.
Although his official residency in migration documents listed him as residing in Turkey’s western Nilufer district in the province of Bursa, Hanash had actually been living in Istanbul’s conservative Fatih district under a different identity, where he was involved in running errands for ISIS. He used two false identities, Hatim al-Mileci and Musa Musa, and carried refugee identity papers for both names.
The file on Fadi Ali Agzar details his involvement with ISIS. A 37-year-old Iraqi national, Agzar was deported by Greece to Turkey after being detained.
Cell tower signals tracked Hanash alongside Mijbel al-Shuwaikhi (also known as Abu Yaqin al-Iraqi), an ISIS intelligence and surveillance unit member who relocated to Turkey from Iraq in 2017. The signals indicated that they met 55 times over the past year, suggesting frequent meetings prior to the ISIS attack. Shuwaikhi had been conducting reconnaissance, including photographing Christian and Jewish places of worship, in preparation for potential ISIS attacks.
Hanash had maintained regular contact with other ISIS cells. During a police raid on his house, authorities discovered numerous forged identity documents, multiple cell phones and several Iraqi identity papers. An analysis of his cell phones revealed photos related to money transfers and firearms. The cell phone records also placed him in various provinces across Turkey, particularly in Edirne, Kırklareli and Tekirdağ, near the Greek border, as well as in Kilis and Şanlıurfa, near the Syrian border.
In his statement to the public prosecutor, Hanash denied the evidence presented against him, claiming that the photos extracted from his cell phone — showing guns and money transfer documents — did not belong to him. He asserted that he had purchased the phone secondhand and that the photos might have been uploaded by the previous owner. He also denied knowing other ISIS suspects despite phone records showing regular contact with them.
The documents also reveal that Turkey’s intelligence agency, MIT, was aware of both men and their activities on behalf of ISIS. However, MIT did not inform law enforcement agencies until November 2023, when a dozen Western embassies and consulates in Istanbul and Ankara announced they would shut down due to security concerns.
Fearing the potential fallout from an attack on Western interests, including churches and synagogues, in Turkey, MIT decided to pass the intelligence it had gathered about the two men to the police, prompting law enforcement action.
The case file on Ahmed al-Hanash details his connections to ISIS and his activities after being deported to Turkey.
The two men are currently under arrest and an indictment was filed against them by the public prosecutor on July 5, 2024. It remains to be seen whether they will be convicted or released during or after the trial.
In Turkey, most ISIS suspects are released after brief detentions, during trial stages, or at the conclusion of the trial. Very few ISIS suspects have been convicted in the Turkish criminal justice system, largely due to the lenient and favorable stance of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Islamist government, which exerts significant control over the country’s judicial branch.
Turkish authorities have refused to disclose the number of ISIS convicts currently serving time in prisons despite multiple parliamentary questions from opposition lawmakers.
