Politics

Turkey starts repatriation of foreign ISIS fighters, beginning with American

Turkey has begun to repatriate foreign Islamic State members in its detention, starting with a US national, the country’s Interior Ministry said on Monday.

Kurdistan 24 2019/11/11 11:22

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ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkey has begun to repatriate foreign Islamic State members in its detention, starting with a US national, the country’s Interior Ministry said on Monday.

“A US citizen Da’esh terrorist has been repatriated after the completion of legal procedures,” ministry spokesperson Ismail Catakli told state-run Anadolu Agency, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.

Turkey will also send seven German nationals back to Germany on Nov. 14, Catakli added.

Two Irish, 11 French, and three Danish citizens are also set to be deported later this month, the spokesperson said.

The identity of the suspects has not been revealed.

“Turkey will extradite them no matter what,” Catakli underlined.

Earlier this month, Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu warned that Ankara would return foreign Islamic State detainees to their native countries, even if their citizenship had been revoked.

According to Soylu, Turkey currently has around 1,200 foreign Islamic State members in its prisons, including relatives of the suspects.

“Those in the prisons are all foreign terrorist fighters, and there are also foreign terrorist fighters in the repatriation centers,” the Turkish interior minister said, according to Anadolu Agency.

“We are not a hotel” for any country’s Islamic State members, he added.

On Oct. 28, authorities in Turkey said they detained 20 foreign nationals with suspected ties to the Islamic State.

Many nations, notably European Union member states, have shown great reluctance to repatriate their nationals now in camps because of fears they pose a security threat.