ISIS video calls on Turks to conquer Istanbul, refers to President Erdoğan as 'Satan'

ISIS has recently released a video calling Turkish people to "conquer Istanbul and Turkey from the ones who cooperate with the West," while referring to President Erdoğan as "Satan" who allegedly sold the country to the U.S. and Western powers and harshly criticized him for supporting the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS.

Speaking in Turkish, the unidentified ISIS terrorist says that it is necessary for the people of Turkey to rebel against the "atheists, crusaders and 'Satans' who fool them and make them a slave to the crusaders" before it is too late.

"You first need to repent from all the reasons –which are caused by this treacherous Satan (Erdoğan) and his friends- that bother you," said the militant and added that, "Turkish people should refuse to accept democracy, secularism, human laws, and all types of other evils."

"Those who believe fight in the way of God, while disbelievers fight in the way of Satan," the terrorist said and added that, "Whoever follows the path of Atatürk and disregards Sharia, allegedly become Satan themselves by befriending the Crusaders, apostates and atheists."

The terrorist urged Turkish people to join the side of ISIS and fight against the Turkish state, which he claimed was ruled by Satan (President Erdoğan) and democracy.

During a recent press conference, Erdoğan called on the international community to show solidarity in the fight against the extremist terrorist group ISIS, which took dozens of Turkish citizens hostage last year. "This organization's actions bear no relation to our religion, morality, conscience or culture," Erdoğan said, adding that the violent images released by ISIS are being intentionally served to the world in order to damage the perception of Islam and Muslims. He said that everyone should stand against this and alongside Turkey.

At the start of a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Malaysia earlier this month, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said: "Soon we [U.S. and Turkey] will together start an extensive battle against ISIS. Now we are training and equipping the moderate [Syrian] opposition together with the United States and we will also start our fight against ISIS very effectively and soon."

Since July 24, around 1,600 people have been arrested in a wave of counterterrorism raids that targeted the PKK, ISIS and DHKP-C amid a spike in attacks targeting police and the military after a deadly July 20 suicide bombing in Suruç in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, which killed 32 civilians. Government officials said ISIS was behind the deadly terrorist attack, but the PKK and its supporters put the blame on the state but have admitted they have no evidence for the claim.

Ankara has shown its position in the fight against ISIS within the country's borders by being one of the earliest countries that have recognized the organization as a terrorist group in October 2013 and identifying and delivering potential foreign fighters seeking to cross the border to Syria to join ISIS in spite of little cooperation in intelligence sharing from its Western allies. Turkey also deported more than 1,600 ISIS members and prevented 16,000 people from entering the country with the justification of their alignment to ISIS.

Statistical data released by official sources show that since the beginning of 2015, Turkish security forces have detained more than 500 individuals with suspected links to ISIS. Courts have handed down prison sentences to approximately 100 individuals on terrorism charges.
Turkish authorities are putting up a concrete wall along the country's border with Syria after the recent wave of terrorist attacks hitting the southern border regions. The construction in the Reyhanlı district of Hatay province is part of the tightened security measures along the border following a series of terrorist attacks starting with the Suruç suicide bombing.

The Hatay Governorate and the 2nd Border Regimental Command are cooperating to erect a 3-meter concrete wall in Reyhanlı's Bükülmez neighborhood just across from the town of Atme in Syria. The 2-meter-wide concrete blocks weighing 7 tons each are being aligned on the border with a crane. The wall, which will stretch 8 kilometers, will be completed soon.

The Turkish government has intensified its counterterror operations following the recent attacks carried out by the PKK, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by the U.S., the EU and Turkey.

Formed in 1978, the terrorist group has been fighting the Turkish government for an independent state until the early 2000's. The group then shifted its goal to autonomy in predominately Kurdish inhabited regions of Turkey.

The PKK announced on July 11 that the cease-fire which was declared via a message from the PKK's imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan in 2013 has ended.

The Turkish Air Force has been carrying airstrikes against the PKK in northern Iraq and the ISIS militants in northern Syria.