20 Detained in Turkey in New Year Security Raids

Police special forces patrol outside the Reina nightclub which was attacked by a gunman, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 3, 2017. (Reuters)
Police special forces patrol outside the Reina nightclub which was attacked by a gunman, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 3, 2017. (Reuters)
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20 Detained in Turkey in New Year Security Raids

Police special forces patrol outside the Reina nightclub which was attacked by a gunman, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 3, 2017. (Reuters)
Police special forces patrol outside the Reina nightclub which was attacked by a gunman, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 3, 2017. (Reuters)

Twenty people suspected of links to the ISIS terrorist group were detained in raids by Turkish police in the city of Istanbul.

The raids by the anti-terrorist branch of the Istanbul police took place on Saturday and targeted four locations across the city, the police said in a statement on Sunday.

The detainees include 15 foreigners, but their nationalities were not disclosed.

The raids came ahead of the one-year anniversary of a nightclub attack in which dozens were killed.

The state-run Anadolu news agency said the suspects were believed to have been planning an attack during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Istanbul.

Turkish police have been ramping up operations against suspected ISIS militants in recent days, detaining around 195 on Thursday and Friday.

During New Year’s celebrations a year ago, a man with an assault rifle shot dead 39 people including Turks and visitors from several Arab nations, India and Canada at an exclusive nightclub in Istanbul, the country’s biggest city.

ISIS claimed responsibility for that shooting, one of a series of attacks believed to have been carried out by the extremists in Turkey in the last couple of years. A trial of those allegedly involved in the nightclub attack began this month.

On New Year’s Eve, the number of police officers on duty in Istanbul will be doubled to 37,000 and public celebrations will be canceled or banned in some districts for security reasons, officials have said.

Many roads in central Istanbul districts will be closed, while heavy vehicles will not be allowed to enter some areas, police have also said.

On Friday, Turkish authorities rounded up 75 people in Istanbul and Ankara suspected of links to ISIS, Anadolu said.

The police detained 46 people -- 43 of them foreigners -- in 10 different areas of the city.

Without giving any details, it said they are suspected of planning attacks over the New Year period.

Anadolu said that even before the latest arrests, a total of 120 ISIS suspects had been detained in operations nationwide.

The authorities have banned any New Year celebrations in Taksim Square in the heart of the European side of the city while a similar measure has been imposed for the lively district of Besiktas.

The district of Sisli -- home to Istanbul's most upmarket shopping and residential areas -- has also scrapped New Year celebrations on security grounds.



Australia Says Will Not Commit Troops in Advance to Any Conflict

Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
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Australia Says Will Not Commit Troops in Advance to Any Conflict

Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams

Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict, Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said on Sunday, responding to a report that the Pentagon has pressed its ally to clarify what role it would play if the US and China went to war over Taiwan.

Australia prioritizes its sovereignty and "we don't discuss hypotheticals", Conroy said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"The decision to commit Australian troops to a conflict will be made by the government of the day, not in advance but by the government of the day," he said.

The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Elbridge Colby, the US under-secretary of defense for policy, has been pressing Australian and Japanese officials on what they would do in a Taiwan conflict, although the US does not offer a blank cheque guarantee to defend Taiwan.

Colby posted on X that the Department of Defense is implementing President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda of restoring deterrence, which includes "urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense".

China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te rejects China's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking in Shanghai at the start of a six-day visit to China that is likely to focus on security and trade, said Canberra did not want any change to the status quo on Taiwan.

Conroy said Australia was concerned about China's military buildup of nuclear and conventional forces, and wants a balanced Indo-Pacific region where no country dominates. He said China was seeking a military base in the Pacific, which was not in Australia's interest, Reuters reported.

'GOAL IS NO WAR'

Talisman Sabre, Australia's largest war-fighting exercise with the United States, opened on Sunday on Sydney Harbour and will involve 40,000 troops from 19 countries, including Japan, South Korea, India, Britain, France and Canada.

Conroy said China's navy might be watching the exercise to collect information, as it had done in the past.

The war games will span thousands of kilometers from Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island to the Coral Sea on Australia's east coast, in a rehearsal of joint war fighting, said Vice Admiral Justin Jones, chief of joint operations for the Australian Defense Force.

The air, sea, land and space exercises over two weeks will "test our ability to move our forces into the north of Australia and operate from Australia", Jones told reporters.

"I will leave it to China to interpret what 19 friends, allies and partners wanting to operate together in the region means to them. But for me... it is nations that are in search of a common aspiration for peace, stability, a free and open Indo-Pacific," he said.

US Army Lieutenant General Joel Vowell, deputy commanding general for the Pacific, said Talisman Sabre would improve the readiness of militaries to respond together and was "a deterrent mechanism because our ultimate goal is no war".

"If we could do all this alone and we could go fast, but because we want to go far, we have to do it together and that is important because of the instability that is resident in the region," Vowell said.

The United States is Australia's major security ally. Although Australia does not permit foreign bases, the US military is expanding its rotational presence and fuel stores on Australian bases, which from 2027 will have US Virginia submarines at port in Western Australia.