"I am not sure that they have joined ISIS. If someone wants to wage jihad, he would not bring along his children and wife," Kalla noted here, Monday.
Despite the rewards offered by ISIS to those becoming its members, the vice president was not convinced that the 16 Indonesians had joined the movement.
He also supported the Indonesian home affairs ministry and the security authorities for their efforts to locate them.
So far, no information is available regarding the whereabouts of the 16 people, according to Kalla.
The Indonesian consulate general in Istanbul reported that 25 Indonesian tourists, who were part of a group arranged by Smailing Tour, arrived at the Ataturk International Airport by a Turkish Airline flight TK-67 on February 24.
Sixteen of them, however, decided to separate from the group and promised to join them in Pamukkale, on February 26.
Since then, they have been missing, and the Indonesian diplomat reported to the Turkish security authorities about their disappearance.
The Indonesian government has sent a team to Turkey to look for the 16 Indonesian nationals who are "missing" in the Mediterranean country.
"A team from Indonesia is already there to help the Turkish security authorities (find the 16 people)," Arrmanatha Nasir, a spokesman of the Indonesian foreign affairs ministry, stated here, Monday.
He stated that Turkey is a huge country spanning 770 thousand square kilometers and has several mountains and difficult terrains.
He pointed out that if someone is hiding somewhere in Turkey, it is very difficult to find him or her.
According to Nasir, the ministry does not want to speculate about the reason why the 16 Indonesians left the tour group and until now their whereabouts are still unknown. The search and investigation process is still ongoing, he added.
"The foreign ministry is reluctant to speculate about their motive to leave the tour group, including about suspicions that they might have joined ISIS," he noted.
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Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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