Five of the six Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants who shot three police officers dead in a pre-dawn raid in northwestern Turkey in late December had been acquitted of terrorism charges just two months earlier, Turkish Minute reported, citing the DHA news agency reported.
The suspects were killed in a gun battle with security forces in Yalova province on December 29. Prosecutors had previously charged the suspects, who had been arrested in an operation in 2024, with membership in an armed terrorist organization, but a court acquitted them in October 2025.
The trial was heard at Yalova’s second high criminal court, where 15 defendants, including the five men later killed in the raid — Lütfi Sordabak, Haşem Sordabak, Mehmet Cami Sordabak, Musa Sordabak and Zafer Umutlu — were cleared of the charges. An appeal filed by the Yalova chief public prosecutor was rejected.
According to DHA, the group had been under investigation in 2024 and were accused of planning to reorganize local ISIL sympathizers.
The 138-page indictment alleged that 18 suspects sought to gather supporters under a structure known as “Ahlak ve Sünnet” (Morality and Sunnah), open prayer spaces and form jihadist cells while presenting themselves as a lawful association.
Prosecutors said the network was laying the groundwork for assassinations and other attacks.
Media reports said the suspects were also preparing an assassination attempt against the local head of the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP).
The indictment further alleged that four of the men who were brothers had branded their father and other siblings “infidels” for not sharing their beliefs and had plotted to kill their father and forcibly marry their mother to a member of the group.
The fatal confrontation in the İsmet Paşa neighborhood of Yalova began when police moved to carry out an operation against suspected ISIL members. Officers came under fire from inside a house, triggering a gun battle that lasted several hours. Three police officers were killed and eight others were wounded, along with a neighborhood watchman.
Five women and six children were evacuated from the property. Six male suspects were killed during the operation.
In subsequent raids across the province, 198 people were detained, 66 of whom were later arrested.
Turkey shares a 900-kilometer (560-mile) border with Syria and has faced repeated ISIL attacks in the past decade, including a January 1, 2017, nightclub attack in İstanbul that killed 39 people.
While Turkey has officially designated ISIL as a terrorist organization and conducted periodic raids against its cells, intelligence reports and previous court cases have shown that ISIL financial couriers and facilitators have operated from Turkish cities, particularly along the southern border.
Opposition lawmakers have previously accused the government of failing to prevent or properly investigate the presence of ISIL militants in Turkey.
The government denies protecting militant groups and says it has intensified its counterterrorism efforts.
