Interior Ministry: Turkey Sent 71 ISIS Members to Their Home Countries

Turkey deported 11 French citizens over links to the ISIS group, the Interior Ministry announced today (December 9).

The ministry statement said that 71 foreign ISIS members were sent to their home countries from November 11 to December 9.

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They include 18 ISIS members from Germany, 11 from France, two from Belgium, two from the Netherlands, one from Denmark, one from Australia, one from the UK, one from the US, and one from Ireland.

"No matter what we will send ISIS members back, we are not their hotel," Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said last month.

The issue of the handling of ISIS members and their families detained in Syria, including foreign members of the group, has been controversial, with Turkey arguing foreign-born should be returned to their countries of origin.

Ankara has said several European countries turned down its efforts to send ISIS members back to their countries.

Turkey has so far deported 7,500 ISIS members, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last week, adding that there are currently 1,149 ISIS members in prisons in Turkey. (VK)