Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTF) is a phenomenon which describes a threat posed by the individuals traveling to transit or destination countries in order to organize terrorist attacks. This new concept, which has been established in the international arm conflict law, is a growing concern of countries because of the terrorist organizations’ borderless brutal attacks.
The term was officially used after the United Nations Security Council resolution 2178 which has been unanimously adopted on 24 September 2014. According to the UN, this concept is defined as “individuals who travel to a State other than their State of residence or nationality for the purpose of the perpetration, planning or preparation of, or participation in, terrorist acts or the providing or receiving of terrorist training, including in connection with armed conflict”[1]. In that regard, those people leave their hometown (origin or source country) to illegally participate in non-state armed groups. Those people’s motivations mainly stem from religious ideology which terrorists and their followers aim to disseminate their problematic ideology. The concept has become more and more commonly used after power vacuums taking place in the Middle East and wide range acute attacks, such as instability after the Iraq War in 2003 and DAESH/ISIS attacks. Hence, non-state armed groups have had an opportunity to increase their power, intensity and complexity of the armed conflicts in the third countries where they are actively strengthening their presence.
As terrorist groups have been increasingly radicalizing and attacking civilians in different countries, this concept has been attached importance by countries which are targeted by non-state armed groups. In this process, social media and internet help terrorists to create a worldwide security threat. In that regard, countries have adopted a security policy which aims to prevent individuals’ recruitment by terrorist organization and overcome global security threat.
[1] “Foreign Terrorist Figthers”, UN Counter-Terrorism Committee, https://www.un.org/sc/ctc/focus-areas/foreign-terrorist-fighters/
TURKEY'S FIGHT AGAINST DAESH/ISIL 