Why we didn’t stop Nigerian who joined ISIS –Turkish envoy

The outgoing Turkish ambassador to Nigeria, Mustafa Pulat, has said that Turkey does not stop the son of a former Chief Justice of Nigeria who crossed the Turkish border to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria terrorists in Syria in February 2015, because there was no information on the suspect.

Pulat explained that the suspected jihadist was issued a visa because he had strong credentials and references.

The envoy said this while responding to questions from journalists in Abuja on Tuesday.

He explained that the Turkish mission in Nigeria cooperated with security agencies when approached over suspicions that the former CJN’s son had gone to join terrorists in Syria.

Pulat, however, added that “there is an ongoing international cooperation to stop other foreigners who may want to join the ISIS jihadists,” noting that electronic optical control system had been installed at the borders to track smugglers and prospective militants.

He said, “Turkey doesn’t know potential of militants but relies on signals from the concerned countries to take action against potential militants. Security agencies approached the embassy on the Nigerian that went to Syria and we extended the necessary cooperation to them.

“The Nigerian was given visa because he came with strong credentials and references and there was no information on him, so he was issued the tourist visa, but we are cooperating with security agencies on the matter. We couldn’t track foreigners going to Syria (to join ISIS) because Turkey is a large country with wide borders.”

Pulat, who has ended his tenure in Nigeria, stated that the ideology behind radicalism and terrorism needed to be understood in order to uproot the phenomenon.