Turkey has started deporting anyone whom they suspect is an ISIS fighter to their home countries, starting with an American, a British and seven Germans.The Interior Ministry of Turkey says that, any American who is suspected of being an ISIS fighter will be deported to the US, and a British suspect will be deported to London and Germans to Berlin.
The alleged American ISIS fighter was first sent to Greece on Monday, by his request, but his plea was rejected by Greece and he was left stranded for several days in a “buffer zone” between the countries, said the ministry. “Upon the commitment of the USA to issue a travel document, necessary procedures have been initiated to send the foreign terrorist fighter to the USA,” the ministry addes.
This happens after the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, where they discussed issues like the fight against ISIS. In a joint press conference, Erdogan proposed that Turkey had thousands of ISIS-affiliated individuals in its custody and intends to return them to “their countries of origin.”
However, the Metropolitan police said on Thursday that, a counter-terror police arrested a British man because he suspects that he is “Syria-related” terror offenses at London’s Heathrow Airport after he arrived in the UK from Turkey, the Metropolitan Police said Thursday in a statement. “The 26-year-old man was arrested after arriving at Heathrow airport on an inbound flight to the UK from Turkey,” the Metropolitan Police said. “He was arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts under section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006 … and currently remains in police custody,” says the police.
The city of Ankara in Turkey has repeatedly criticized European nations because they refused to take back their own nationals with Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu who said Turkey was not a “guest house or hotel” for ISIS members to stay. Some European countries have refused to take in the captured foreign fighters. According to them, they are denationalized, says a report from Turkey’s state-run news agency Anadolu.
Foreign fighters were ordered by Trump to return as he calls European nations a “tremendous disappointment” as they failed to bring ISIS militants’ home, and threatening to dump them on their doorstep. Last month, Trump ordered US troops to withdraw from Syria, paving the way for Turkey to launch a military operation there. The operation sought to clear a border area previously held by Kurdish fighters, whom Turkey view as terrorists, but that the US had allied with in the fight against ISIS. Since then, fears have grown among American officials that any prison holding more than 10,000 ISIS fighters, guarded by Kurdish personnel, will be compromised, amid the report of some militants who flee.
