Tokyo (ANTARA News) - Indonesia and Turkey are cooperating to overcome religious radicalization following the emergence of a phenomena of people joining the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.

"The meeting with Turkish delegation has talked about how we can jointly work to deal with radicalization," Vice President Jusuf Kalla said to newsmen here on Sunday.

When attending the 3rd UN Conference on Reduction of Disaster Risks in Sendai, Japan, on Saturday Kalla took an opportunity to meet with a number of senior officials from other countries including Turkey.

During the meeting with the Turkish officials he said he talked about security cooperation, information exchange as well as cooperation to help deal with flows of refugees caused by ISIS attacks.

"Radicalism must be overcome together," he said adding that around 500 Indonesian nationals have gone to areas under ISIS control.

He said there would be potential threats when people who have been radicalized returned to their home countries including Indonesia.

In view of that he said the Indonesian government has agreed to form a moderate Islam center as part of efforts to overcome radicalism.

He said there would be a further meeting with Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan.

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said earlier that Indonesia would send a joint team to investigate 16 Indonesian nationals caught by Turkish authorities at the Turkish border with Syria with regard to their motives.

"The government will send a team to investigate their purpose and increase cooperation and coordination with the Turkish security authorities," he said in Jakarta on Friday.

The team include officials from the ministry of foreign affairs, the National Intelligence Agency, the National Anti-Terrorism Agency and the police.

The ministry has confirmed that the 16 caught by the Turkish security authorities are Indonesian citizens but not the ones reported missing after separating themselves from a tour group.

Arrmanatha said the 16 citizens held by the Turkish authorities consist of one male adult, four female adults, three female children and eight male children.

"According to information they indeed wished to cross into Syria," he said.

reporting by muhammad razi rahman
(M040*A060/H-YH/O001)
(H-YH/O001)



Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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