Turkey has completed the transfer of 184 Turkish nationals imprisoned in Iraq as Islamic State militants. The inmates were removed from Karkh prison in Baghdad, Hale Gonultas (@hale_gonultas) of Turkish news portal T24 reported on September 7. 

Gonultas is among the leading journalists who work on the issue of Islamic State networks in Turkey.

The repatriation marked one of the most substantial legal handovers of foreign terrorist fighters from Iraq. It closed a multi-year effort to identify and track Turkish jihadists who vanished into Syria and Iraq during the height of the militant group’s territorial rule.

Captured by Kurds in Syria

The operation followed years of complex forensic cross-border investigations. Identifying Turkish nationals within the Syrian and Iraqi detention systems presented acute operational hurdles. Many suspects concealed their real identities or nationalities upon capture by Kurdish-led forces in northeastern Syria. They posed as Syrian, Iranian or Afghan citizens.

To verify identity claims ahead of the transfer, Turkish security agencies collected DNA samples from families of missing suspects in late 2023 and early 2024. These profiles were subsequently cross-referenced against biological data obtained during the systematic transfer of over 5,700 male Islamic State detainees from northeastern Syria to Iraq in January this year.

Wanted for Ankara railway station massacre

Among those repatriated is Savas Yildiz, a key fugitive defendant in the investigation into the October 10, 2015 Ankara railway station bombing. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in modern Turkish history.

Other prominent criminals transferred include Mahmut Gazi Tatar, previously listed on Turkey's blue category of wanted terrorists given his links to the "Dokumacilar" network in Adiyaman. Ilyas Aydin, alias "Abu Ubayda", was also identified in legal indictments as a senior figure in the Islamic State’s Istanbul operational framework.

Burak Hazar, meanwhile, has been associated with the "Sanayi Group" network from Adana.

250 women await next transfer

Turkish authorities are now preparing a secondary, highly sensitive transfer involving approximately 250 Turkish women currently detained at Rusafa prison in Baghdad. Many of them have been detained since 2017, awaiting extradition. Several of the women received lengthy prison terms or death sentences from the Iraqi courts.

A joint delegation of Turkish justice and security officials visited Baghdad in September 2025 to interview the detainees individually, collecting biometrics and verifying lineage records.

The upcoming transfer presents unique legal and logistical challenges as regards the children residing with their mothers in Rusafa. Forensic audits have revealed that children held in the facility trace paternal citizenship to 14 different countries. While the women are slated for return within the month, whether all accompanying minors will be included in the initial flight remains unconfirmed.