LONDON
A clear line of communication has to be set up between London and Ankara to prevent suspected British citizens from joining extremist groups such as Daesh by travelling to Syria via Turkey, a British parliamentarian has said.
U.K. Parliament’s chair of Home Affairs Select Committee, Keith Vaz, told Anadolu Agency on Monday that there was a need to improve communication between the two countries.
“We need to be able to have a clear line of communication,” Vaz said. “I’m afraid there’s a tendency on the part of authorities in this country [U.K.] to send emails and send letters,” he added.
He called for establishing a “hotline between London and Istanbul”, which would allow British authorities to contact their Turkish counterparts, when it learnt about a British citizen heading towards Syria.
“If somebody goes missing and if it is detected that they’re going to Syria, Turkish authorities need to be informed immediately,” he said.
Vaz highlighted the importance of a hotline, adding that since Turkey was not part of the Schengen system and Europol, there was a communication problem.
“Turkey is outside the European system and that’s why we need to make a special arrangement to allow Turkish authorities to share certain information with the rest of the European countries,” he said.
He also thanked the Turkish government and officials for their support.
“Without the support and work of the Turkish authorities and Turkish police, we would be in a very difficult place,” he added.
Vaz’s remarks came a day after he met with the husbands of three Bradford sisters, who are suspected of having gone to Syria to join Daesh. In this case, Vaz told Anadolu Agency that “there was a delay of 10 hours before the Turkish authorities were informed [about the missing women and their children]”.
The Bradford sisters -- Khadija, 30, Sugra, 34, and Zohra Dawood, 33 -- and their nine children, aged between three and 15, went missing after leaving for Saudi Arabia on May 28. They apparently went to Syria via Turkey, instead of heading back to the U.K.
Keith Vaz, 58, has been a member of parliament since 1987 and is known to be the “longest-serving Asian MP”. He has been chairman of the parliament’s Home Affairs Committee since 2007.
At least 16,000 foreign fighters from all over the world are believed to have joined groups such as Daesh in Syria and Iraq.
