"The government will send a security team to Turkey to carry out further investigations into their motives and enhance our cooperation and coordination with Turkeys authorities," Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said here on Friday.
The joint team will comprise officers from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, National Intelligence Agency, National Terrorism Eradication Agency, and Indonesian Police. The team will soon depart for Turkey to investigate the case and motives of the sixteen Indonesians who are currently held in the Gaziantep Detention House.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier confirmed that the sixteen Indonesians, who were attempting to cross into Syria from a border area in Gaziantep City in Turkey, are not the group of sixteen tourists reported missing from February 26.
The sixteen people arrested by Turkish authorities comprise a man, four women, three girls, and eight boys. They are currently kept at a detention house in Gaziantep City.
During interrogation, the 16 people admitted that they were attempting to cross into Syria, according to Nasir.
Earlier, on Thursday (March 12), Turkeys Cihan News Agency reported that Spokesperson for Turkeys Foreign Affairs Ministry Tanju Bilgic confirmed that the location from where the sixteen Indonesians were caught has been a route frequently taken by ISIS sympathizers.
Previously, sixteen Indonesian nationals with tourist visas reportedly went missing from a tour group in Turkey, raising speculations that they were either abducted or they intentionally separated from the tour group.
Immigration authorities in Indonesia confirmed that among the sixteen tourists who have gone missing in Turkey, there are two infants and five children.
(T.A060/INE)
EDITED BY INE/a014.
Reporter: Azi Fitriyanti
Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
