Some 20 of those in custody were detained in the country's southern Antalya province where the Group of Twenty (G20) Leaders Summit is scheduled to be held on November 15-16.
According to Daily Sabah newspaper, citing local police, the ISIL suspects — 40 Moroccans and a Syrian national — arrived in Istanbul from Casablanca on Wednesday. They have been taken into custody and interrogated. Some have allegedly confessed to the intention to travel to Syria to join ISIL.
The ISIL militant group, which controls large areas of Syria and Iraq, is notorious for its brutality and human rights violations, as well as for recruiting people from all over the world via social networks through which it spreads its radical ideology and urges young people to join the group.
Turkey is the most popular travel route used by recruited to reach Syria to join the group.
