Istanbul: Turkey has deported 59 “foreign terrorist fighters” to their home countries since last month, Interior Ministry spokesman Ismail Catakli said on Wednesday.
While 26 were sent to the United States and European Union countries, 33 were repatriated to other nations, Catakli said of the deportations that began on November 11.
He did not specify if all of them were linked to the IS extremist group, nor did he provide details of the allegations against them.
It was also not clear where and when the alleged fighters were captured, whether they were taken into custody after Turkey launched its incursion into north-eastern Syria on October 9, or earlier.
“Everyone will go back to their own countries. Turkey is neither an open-air prison nor a hotel for anyone,” Catakli said at a monthly press conference.
So far, Turkey has included children in its deportation tally. On Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said it had sent back five German “foreign terrorist fighters” to Germany.
Police in Frankfurt said one of them was a 30-year-old dual German-Syrian national, while the other four were children.
Catakli said 12 more “foreign fighters” will be returned to their home countries soon, but didn’t mention their nationalities.
He declined to give the total number of so-called foreign fighters in custody or how many are set for deportation.
State news agency Anadolu recently reported that 944 foreign fighters from 36 different countries were awaiting deportation in Turkish repatriation centres. Turkey has made clear that the deportations will continue even if the suspects’ home countries have revoked their citizenship.
Meanwhile, Irish police charged a woman aligned IS on Wednesday, three days after she was arrested on suspicion of terrorist offences when she returned to Dublin from Turkey.
The police gave no details of the charges against Lisa Smith, an Irish citizen who had gone to Turkey from Syria and denies involvement with any terrorist-related activity.
— dpa/Reuters
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