On Friday, Erdem leaked documents to the press allegedly containing phone call transcripts of prominent Daesh figure Ilhami Bali, which reportedly had originally been obtained by Ankara’s security forces. The documents point to Daesh fighters enjoying unfettered movement, medical treatment and accommodation in Turkey.
“While reading the documents, what catches the eye is that a terrorist is on the phone informing about its whereabouts, he names the hotel he is staying in but the security services do not send their personnel to this hotel and do not detain this terrorist… They [terrorists] talk to each other freely on the phone, which is tapped, but no one does anything to detain them,” Erdem said in an interview.
According to the lawmaker, the wiretapped extremists smuggled guns, flame throwers and Kalashnikov assault rifles across the border. From the information provided in the documents, it is “absolutely clear that they have either already joined Daesh or are going to,” Erdem noted.
“In the phone conversation, recorded in the documents, it is described in detail where the group plans to recruit candidates for jihad, the pickup point, at what point at the border they will cross into Syria,” Erdem added.
Erdem, who is being investigated for treason over his allegations that Daesh jihadists had used Turkey as a transit route to deliver deadly sarin gas to Syria, has claimed that militants from the group are regularly escorted through the Syrian-Turkish border with the help of local middlemen. On Sunday, the CHP member blamed the Turkish authorities for covering up the cross-border activities.
Ankara has staunchly denied any links to the terrorist organization, which is outlawed in many countries, including the United States and Russia.