Western Daesh Members Seek Turkey Aid to Defect: US Paper

 Growing numbers of disenchanted Western members of Daesh, fighting in Iraq and Syria, are trying to sever links with the Takfiri terrorist organization, according to a report.

Citing diplomats representing six Western embassies in Turkey, the Wall Street Journal said many disgruntled terrorists are appealing to their governments through diplomatic missions in Turkey to return home, Press TV reported.

 A number of the extremists have fled Deash-held areas in Iraq and Syria and approached missions in Turkey, while several others have sent messages to relatives in their homelands seeking help to escape, the report said.

The calls for assistance came as Daesh has rapidly been losing ground in battles against the Iraqi and Syrian forces.

The diplomats said some of the would-be Daesh defectors are those who are fighting alongside fellow extremists in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Others are people who were lured into joining the terror network but now find themselves in dire straits, the Journal said.

Once Westerners make it to Turkey, intelligence officers detain and interrogate them for at least a month, before handing them over to the embassies of their home countries, according to the paper.

The diplomats said about 150 people have sought help to return to their home countries, noting that they don’t know whether to provide consular services to the defectors or view them as a potential threat.

Many of them have fought for a terrorist group and are likely to carry out deadly attacks similar to those in Paris and Brussels earlier this year.

Press TV

H.M