Cairo: Egypt has imposed restrictions on female citizens travelling to Turkey, police said Sunday, months after introducing similar measures for men to stop them joining Daesh.
Women aged 18 to 40 are now required to obtain security clearance before going to Turkey, a senior police officer told AFP, without specifying why.
“A security clearance can be acquired within 72 hours, and it is now mandatory for women travelling to this country (Turkey),” the officer said.
The restriction took effect on Thursday, a Cairo airport official said.
In March Egypt’s state-sponsored Islamic authority, Dar Al Ifta, warned women against marrying Daesh terrorists over the Internet who woo them to travel to militant-controlled territory.
The compulsory security clearance for men, introduced in December, applies to war-torn Libya as well as Turkey.
Islamist militants have regularly launched attacks in Egypt, mostly in the Sinai Peninsula, since Islamist president Mohammad Mursi was ousted in 2013, and officials say that many of them have fought in Syria, which borders Turkey.
In November Egypt’s deadliest militant group, the Sinai Province, formerly known as Ansar Beit Al Maqdis, pledged allegiance to Daesh, heightening security concerns.
Islamist militants say their attacks are in retaliation for a bloody government crackdown on Mursi supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands jailed.
Ties between Cairo and Ankara have deteriorated since the army toppled Mursi, a key ally of Turkey.
Egypt has accused Ankara of “backing terrorism,” while Turkey has repeatedly branded Mursi’s overthrow a “coup”.
Turkey, a vocal critic of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, has denied accusations that it tolerates the flow of foreign fighters into Syria.
Cairo has also regularly raised concerns over the war in Libya, which has plunged into chaos since the ouster and killing of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
In February, Cairo carried out air strikes inside Libya targeting Daesh terrorists, after they posted a video showing the beheadings of 21 Coptic Christians, all but one of the Egyptians, on a beach in Libya.
