Turkey to send back foreign Daesh militants to their countries
"We are not going to keep them until the end of time. We're not a hotel for Daesh. They found an easy solution. They say 'I took his nationality away, it's your problem now'. That's unacceptable in our view, that's totally irresponsible. What do you want me to do with your terrorist?" Turkey's Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu stressed in his comments to journalists on Saturday.
- World
- Agencies and A News
- Published Date: 04:57 | 02 November 2019
- Modified Date: 07:12 | 02 November 2019
The Turkish government said on Saturday it would send foreign Daesh/ISIS terrorists captured in Syria back to their countries of origin, despite the unwillingness of notably Europe states to take them in.
Engaged in a fight against Daesh/ISIS terror group, Turkey on Saturday criticized countries striping citizenship of Daesh/ISIS terrorists to get rid of them.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said foreign countries were taking the easy way out by stripping the citizenships of terrorists.
Soylu's remarks came after Kaoutar S. and Fatima H. were arrested earlier this week in Turkey's capital Ankara after they illegally entered Turkey and applied to the Netherlands Embassy in Ankara to return to their home country.
However, the Dutch government started the process to strip citizenship of the two women who were also Moroccan citizens.
The duo had met Daesh/ISIS members through a website, came to Turkey in 2013, and illegally crossed to Syria to marry Daesh/ISIS members. The two women came back to Turkey after their husbands were killed in Syria.
"We are not going to keep them until the end of time," Soylu told reporters. "We're not a hotel for Daesh," he said, using another name for ISIS.
He said Turkey would hold captured foreign fighters "for some time. After that we'll send them back to their countries".
Soylu said EU countries including the Netherlands and Britain had stripped some of the fighters of their nationality to prevent Ankara from sending them home.
"They found an easy solution," he said. "They say 'I took his nationality away, it's your problem now'. That's unacceptable in our view, that's totally irresponsible. What do you want me to do with your terrorist?"
Pointing out Turkey's agreements with these countries, Soylu said: "These agreements especially highlight their mutual extradition."
And he added: "It is not acceptable for us [to hear] 'I stripped them of the citizenship, you take care of it'. This is also irresponsibility."
The Turkish government regularly calls on European countries to repatriate their nationals belonging to Daesh/ISIS, but many governments are dragging their feet, fearing a public backlash and security problems.