CHP report offers recommendations in ISIL fight

ANKARA

CİHAN photo

A fact-finding delegation from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) released a report they drafted upon visiting the border town of Suruç in southeastern Şanlıurfa province, where dozens of people were killed July 20 in an attack by a suspected suicide bomber from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and offered a number of recommendations to the government on how to effectively fight against ISIL.

According to the CHP deputies, the probability of neglect was high when taking into consideration the fact the perpetrators of ISIL attacks and attendees of ISIL activities were mostly individuals who had already been under surveillance by security forces.

“That’s why an effective investigation covering the entire country, particularly in regards to ‘preemptive wiretapping,’ should be conducted and it should be investigated whether the requirement of information collected about ISIL members… was fulfilled,” said the report by some 15 CHP deputies, led by the party’s deputy leaders, Veli Ağbaba and Sezgin Tanrıkulu.

“Whether there is a disconnection between intelligence units should be investigated by parliament.

Parliament’s Security and Intelligence Commission should be granted the authority to conduct an investigation by itself,” the report said. 

“A new approach which includes intelligence and security legs should be adopted in order to prevent [people from] joining ISIL via Turkey. An end should urgently be given to the uncontrolled situation at the Syrian border and border security should be provided,” it said. 

“The delivery of weapons from Turkey to Syria should be stopped,” the deputies also noted, calling on the incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to review its Syria policy in a way which prioritizes border security and regional peace.