Message surfaced on social networks on March 27 stating that Turkish law enforcement officers had detained 70 people suspected of belonging to the ISIS.
According to Uzbekistan’s Consulate General in Istanbul, among those arrested was a 39-year-old citizen of Uzbekistan, a native of the Andijan province.
Allegations about the Uzbek citizen’s involvement in ISIS were not confirmed and he was released.
The Consulate General of Uzbekistan has published several recommendations for Uzbek nationals in Turkey that:
- not to join extremist channels on Telegram, Instagram, Tik-Tok, YouTube and WhatsApp, not to visit sites with such content;
- not to store or distribute nasheeds, religious sermons and photographs on phones;
- not to respond to invitations and offers of a religious nature from unknown persons via e-mail.
In January, the Committee on Religious Affairs of Uzbekistan published an updated list of items recognized by the Supreme Court as containing ideas of extremism and terrorism. The committee urged not to distribute items from sites and channels included in the list, and also not to press the “Like” buttons under such content.
