The Turkish interior ministry announced Sunday deporting two German nationals and one Swedish ISIS militant holding French citizenship as part of a program to extradite foreign fighters.
It said 282 ISIS terrorists have been deported since November 11. Among them are 32 Germans, 19 French citizens, and six Dutch, six British and three Swiss nationals, as well as two from each of Belgium, the United States, Ireland, Denmark, Bulgaria, Belarus, Switzerland, Australia, Greece and Croatia.
Turkey launched the campaign to deport foreign fighters in November 2019, saying it would repatriate most detainees with suspected links to ISIS.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Sunday that Turkey is not a “hotel” for ISIS militants.
Speaking to reporters, Soylu said Turkey would send back any captured ISIS militant to his country even if his citizenship was revoked.
“We will send them back ... but the world has come up with a new method by revoking their citizenship,” Soylu said. “They are saying they should be tried where they have been caught. This is a new form of international law, I guess.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has earlier announced that more than 1,150 ISIS elements are detained in Turkey.
Head of the Turkish Interior Ministry's migration management department Abdullah Ayaz said last week that Turkey has deported 7,898 foreign terrorists since 2001 and has prevented 94,000 foreigners suspected of having links with terrorist organizations from entering its territories.
About 900 ISIS elements have been waiting in Turkey’s deportation centers. The process of sending them to their home countries is putting pressure on European countries that are now forced to accept the militants, who have been involved in hostile operations in Syria and Iraq.
