“It is condemnable and shameful on the part of Britain that three girls can just go from Heathrow airport to Istanbul,” Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters in Ankara on Tuesday.
Arinc accused British authorities of waiting three days before telling Turkish counterparts that the missing girls had flown to Istanbul.
“The search efforts are ongoing. If we can find them, great. If not, then it is the British authorities who are responsible, not Turkey,” Arinc added.
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In a report on border security released last year, the Turkish prime minister’s office said “it is easier to prevent people suspected of being members of radical groups from entering into Turkey than it is to prevent them from exiting from the Syrian border of Turkey.”
A spokesman for the Turkish president said British and Turkish security forces and intelligence agents are now working together to try to find the three missing British girls.
