Russia Seeks Access to 14 Citizens Held in Turkey Over Plan to Join ISIL

Moscow has called on Turkey to allow diplomats access to 14 Russian nationals detained for allegedly attempting to cross the Syrian border to join Islamic State militants, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A group of Russian citizens, including a teenage student girl, were seized in early June in the southern Turkish city of Kilis near the Syrian border on suspicion of plotting to join jihadists. Varvara Karaulova, 19, was due to be flown back to Russia on Thursday.

"We demand that they be allowed to get in touch with our Consulate [in Turkey]. We have already settled the issue concerning Varvara Karaulova, who is due to have returned to Russia by now," the top Russian diplomat said at a meeting with Iyad Madani, the head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Since the rise of ISIL in the Middle East, Turkey has become a major gateway to large areas of land controlled by ISIL in Syria. The ISIL declaration of a caliphate in seized territories has rallied hardline Islamists under their banner.

At least 20,000 foreign fighters are estimated to have joined ISIL to date, according to US National Counterterrorism Center. The governor of Turkey’s south-central province of Gaziantep said in March that almost 60 Russians there were suspected of having links with ISIL.