Turkey on Thursday said it had detained an intelligence agent working for one of the nations in the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State for helping three British teenage girls cross into Syria to join the jihadists.
The surprise revelation by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu appeared aimed at deflecting sustained criticism from Western countries that Turkey is failing to halt the flow of jihadists across its borders.
“Do you know who helped those girls? He was captured. He was someone working for the intelligence (service) of a country in the coalition,” Cavusoglu told the A-Haber channel in an interview published by the official Anatolia news agency.
A Turkish government official told AFP that the agent was arrested by Turkey’s security forces 10 days ago, and added that the person was not a Turkish citizen.
“We informed all the countries concerned,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“It’s not an EU member, it’s also not the United States. He is working for the intelligence of a country within the coalition,” Cavusoglu added, without further specifying the nationality of the detained agent.
Cavusoglu said he had informed his British counterpart Philip Hammond of the development.
“He told me ‘just as usual’,” said Cavusoglu, without explaining further.
Close friends Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, crossed into Syria after boarding a flight from London to Istanbul on February 17.
They took a bus from Istanbul to the southeastern Turkish city of Sanliurfa close to the Syrian border, from where they are believed to have crossed the frontier.
The disappearance of the girls has alarmed Britain and raised questions about what motivates such young people to go to Syria.
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