Turkey Blacklist Boko Haram As Terrorists Organisation

The radical Islamist sect-Boko Haram was on Tuesday blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the Turkey government.  

Man claiming to be leader of Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, in video screengrab, unknown location, Sept. 25, 2013.

According to Turkish Resmi Gazete (The Official Gazette), the decision was propelled by continued international focus on the search and rescue of the over 234 female students that were abducted from GGSS, Chibok, Borno State by the Islamist sect on April 14.


However, Turkey, which is a key member of NATO, is yet to disclose the role they intend to play or the military support they intend giving to Nigeria towards the ongoing fight against insurgency.  
Turkey’s government plan on freezing the assets of the sect members in the country whenever its discovered.  



Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council had earlier added Boko Haram to its list of terrorist organizations since May 22, following a request from the Nigerian government, while on June 2, 2014, the European Union also announced that it has imposed sanctions on Boko Haram as an Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group weeks after it kidnap the female students.

The Islamist abduction of the schoolgirls had triggered a wide international response, as the Nigerian government insisted that the sect is responsible for most of the terrorist attacks regularly occurring in different parts of the country. The sect members have carried out several deadly attacks after the abduction of the Chibok girls.

Meanwhile, the Jabhat al-Nusra (Al-Nusra Front) which operates in Syria was also blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the Turkish government.  

Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad popularly known as Boko Haram in Hausa which means "Western education is sin”. The terrorist group which has its strong hold in the northeastern part of the country, Cameroon and Niger, has carried out several attacks and bombings which have claimed thousands of innocent souls in their quest to Islamise the country and put an end to what they described as westernisation. 

The sect’s menace has however, attracted the attention of international communities like France, Britain, U.S, China, Israel among others, whom have all volunteered to help the Nigerian Government in flushing them out as well as rescuing the kidnapped school girls.