Special to WorldTribune.com

ANKARA — Despite assurances to the West, Turkey has retained the presence of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Opposition sources said ISIL has continued to operate in Turkey amid the Al Qaida wars in neighboring Iraq and Syria. They said ISIL was recruiting and training its fighters in remote areas of Turkey with the knowledge of the intelligence community.

On July 30, an opposition parliamentarian demanded that the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirm details of ISIL training in Turkey.

Sezin Tanrikulu, a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, said ISIL was operating several training camps, including one near Istanbul.

“Is the claim [correct] that the group alleged to have been the Turkish branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has been allocated a camp ground or other places in Istanbul?” Tanrikulu asked.

Tanrikulu directed his questions to Interior Minister Efkan Ala and cited a video that showed alleged ISIL members training in Turkey. The online video, released by a Turkish website close to Al Qaida, showed hundreds of purported ISIL fighters praying during Id Al Fitr on July 28.

“Who is this group?” Tanrikulu said. “What does it consist of?”

The opposition, echoing assertions by NATO, has accused Erdogan of tolerating ISIL. The ISIL presence was said to have been overseen by Turkish intelligence community chief Hikan Fidan, deemed close to Erdogan.

In the video, ISIL fighters pledged to conduct holy war in Turkey. Over the last year, officials have reported several alerts of imminent ISIL attacks. In June 2014, ISIL stormed the Turkish consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and took 49 hostage, including consul-general Ozturk Yilmaz.

“Is it true that Istanbul Provincial Police Department and Gendarmerie Command were ordered not to interfere when the group, the extension of a terrorist organization, was calling for jihad in Istanbul?” Tanrikulu asked. “Who gave these orders?”

  Hikan Fidan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, recruiting, recruiting in Turkey, Republican People’s Party, Sezin Tanrikulu, Turkish opposition charges government knew of ISIL training