Our government is as funny as ever. What about the Syrian and Afghani ISIS members and terrorists who enter the country illegally?
Also, Uzbekistan is one of the centres of ISIS, as is the Uighur autonomous region...
Yes, this is a very big problem. Even the Taliban told us "send them back" regarding the illegal Afghan migrants. The Syria topic is also clear. Many young Afghans are coming to Turkiye mainly to work and gain some money for marriage as marriages in Afghanistan are expensive. Only Mehr (bride price) can go up to 40.000$ or even more. The wedding party, the wedding itself is another story, so they are forced to find alternatives for income. In this sense many Afghans come to Turkiye and return to Afghanistan later so they can marry. Ironically they are not the biggest problem when it comes to terrorism.
In short both illegal and legal travel from Central Asia including Afghanistan and Russia is risky. As the majority of the terrorists (ISKP) that are posing threat to Turkish and regional security are Tajik, the government took tight measures restricting the free flow of Tajik citizens.
When it comes to the problem in Central Asia I think it should be countered on the territory of these countries trough tight coordination, intelligence sharing and other security agreements. I think there is a lack of proactive approach and surveillance. We are not talking about war torn countries, but relatively developed countries with tradition when it comes to intelligence. It is clear that IS in these countries limits their offensive activities so they don't bring the attention over them. Rather than attacking they are using the freedom and lack of control to recruit new followers who they radicalize and conduct fundraising activities.
Why am I saying that special screening initiatives should be started? Because the regular IS lone wolf is not a PhD in Physics or a notorious businessman, having a girlfriend, driving a cabriolet around the town. This is why background check of such individuals is a must prior to entering Turkiye or any other country.
Intelligence should be gathered by the local authorities in countries with high risk on neighbourhood principle and a report should be kept about every citizen falling into a certain criteria which is a precondition for him to become a security risk. The people who are falling in this list should be kept under surveillance and regular reports (once monthly) should be written by the responsible case officer regarding developments in his life, his work, travel etc. Every 3 months a conclusion report must be written which is added into a large database in which such risky individuals are categorized according to the security risk they pose and annually such individuals may be excluded from the list. The border guards and institutions that are responsible for migration should have access to the database and determine if an individual is let to cross the border according to the categorization (red, orange, yellow, you name it) and the border security and migration authorities should be able to access the latest conclusion report reviewing the details regarding the categorization of this individual, also a hot line in a joint operative center should exist that is able to provide further support and coordination between partner countries relative authorities, also other partner countries services. All of the countries participating in this intelligence sharing agreement must have access to this database trough a common platform integrated into the border control system of a participant country. Based on border personnel perception of risk and the included report, the individual taking place in this list may be let pass the border point, denied entry or detained/deported if there is a warrant for his arrest.
Yes, I know that this is a lot of work, but taking in account the security risks involved this system will serve well all of the countries that participate in this common platform. There is a risk and we must face this risk with preventive measures and coordination between interested sides. Every country is expected to take seriously the terrorism threat, especially in these times. There is a certain reality that many terrorists are coming from Central Asian countries and we must press these countries to start screening their citizens and make possible for better security evaluation and terrorism prevention otherwise unfortunately it is not possible for Turkiye to accept people from these countries without visa and vise versa. We should either enforce a joint screening database or cease visa free travel. A system that is close to this concept is the Schengen Information System. I think such a coordinated border control initiative may also serve for the future of our international cooperation within the Turkic Council and other regional partners. While we are talking solely about terrorism prevention, I think this system's potential is bigger and its function can be expanded, so the process around border control and customs activities may be optimized (faster border crossing, less waiting time) among participants. This system should be applied as a "bundle" to the existing border security software of these countries no matter if we talk about land border crossings, airports or maritime ports. We should know who is who.
Another reality is that many of these legal or illegal migrants are being radicalized in the countries they migrated in (Turkiye in our case). We should clearly identify how the radicalization process is done, the connected individuals and these nests of snakes should be burned no matter in a legal or a "semi-legal" way. We should give the right message of deterrence!