PodcastUS blacklists 3 Turkey-based companies, 2 Turkish individuals for supporting ISIS
The U.S. Treasury Department announced that it has imposed sanctions on three Turkey-based companies and two Turkish individuals for supporting ISIS. According to the Treasury, Turkey-based Sahloul Money Exchange Company, Al-Sultan Money Transfer Company and ACL İthalat İhracat were targeted for providing financial and logistical support to ISIS, as were Turkish nationals İsmail Bayaltun and his brother Ahmet Bayaltun.
Duvar English/Reuters
The United States on Nov. 18 imposed sanctions on four companies and two people operating in Syria, Turkey, the Gulf and Europe for providing financial and logistical support to ISIS.
The targets were blacklisted under an executive order that imposes sanctions on terrorists and those who have provided assistance or support for terrorists, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
Turkey-based Sahloul Money Exchange Company, Al-Sultan Money Transfer Company and ACL İthalat İhracat were targeted for providing financial and logistical support to ISIS, as were Turkish nationals İsmail Bayaltun and his brother Ahmet Bayaltun.
"Turkey-based İsmail Bayaltun and his brother Ahmet Bayaltun—through a company they owned in Şanlıurfa, Turkey—have provided support to ISIS fighters. As of late 2018, Ismail Bayaltun and his siblings provided material support to ISIS through ACL İthalat İhracat. The company supplied ISIS with equipment in 2015 and 2017," the statement released from the Treasury read.
"As of early 2017, Turkey-based Ahmet Bayaltun was identified as an ISIS procurement agent," it added.
The Afghanistan-based Nejaat Social Welfare Organization and two of its senior officials, Sayed Habib Ahmad Khan and Rohullah Wakil, were also targeted for supporting the activities of the ISIS branch in Afghanistan.
In a statement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin characterized the move as a follow-up pressure tactic on the jihadi group after a U.S. special forces operation killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
"Following the highly successful operation against al-Baghdadi, the Trump administration is resolved to completely destroy ISIS’s remaining network of terror cells," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
"The Treasury Department contributes to this effort in several ways, including by degrading ISIS’s ability to recruit and arm fighters globally by stamping out its financial footholds," he added.
The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets held by those targeted and prohibit Americans from doing business with them.