Turkey says it will certainly repatriate Daesh prisoners even if citizenships revoked

Turkey reiterates that it will surely send captured members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group back to their countries of origin even if those countries have stripped them of their citizenship, lambasting the approach adopted by European countries on the issue.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu made the remarks in a press conference on Monday, saying those countries which revoked the citizenship of Daesh terrorists and resisted their repatriation created new problems in international law.

“We will send back those in our hands, but the world has come up with a new method now: revoking their citizenship,” he said, adding, “They are saying they should be tried where they have been caught. This is a new form of international law, I guess.”

Soylu insisted that it was “not possible to accept this. We will send back Daesh members in our hands to their own countries whether they (their countries of origin) revoke their citizenship or not.”

Turkish army forces and militants of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA), who enjoy Ankara’s patronage, on October 9 launched a cross-border offensive into northeastern Syria in a declared attempt to clear members of the so-called People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militant group, from border areas.

Ankara regards the US-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group, which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in the Anatolian country since 1984.

Turkeys says its troops have managed to capture some escaped Daesh terrorists over the last month since the onset of the offensive, called Operation Peace Spring. These terrorists had escaped from a prison in northeastern Syria following the Turkish military operation.

“Those in the prisons are all foreign terrorists, and there are also foreign terrorists in the repatriation centers,” Soylu said on Monday.

PressTV-Turkey to send back Daesh prisoners to Europe

Turkey says it will send captured Daesh terrorists back to their home countries in Europe amid anger with the EU.

The Turkish minister’s remarks echoed what he said on Saturday, when he vowed that Ankara “will send the captured Daesh members to their countries” despite the unwillingness of European countries to take them in.

“We are not going to keep them until the end of time. We're not a hotel for Daesh,” Soylu further said at the time, adding that member states of the European Union (EU), including the Netherlands and Britain, have already stripped some of the Daesh militants of their nationality to prevent Ankara from sending them home.

There are thought to be at least 10,000 detained suspected Daesh terrorists imprisoned in northeastern Syria, with another 100,000 family members held at displaced person camps, including 70,000 in al-Hol refugee camp.

PressTV-Daesh inmates flee Syria jail amid Turkey incursion

A group of Daesh prisoners escape from a prison in northern Syria following Turkish mortar attacks nearby.

Kurdish officials say nearly 800 Daesh prisoners have managed to escape from a prisoner camp after the Turkish offensive.  

A number of European countries have commenced talks with Iraqi officials to enable captured Takfiri militants being held in Syria to face trial in Iraq, but progress appeared slow.

Daesh has already been driven out of all its urban bastions both in Iraq and Syria, but its remnants carry out sporadic terror attacks in both Arab countries. The group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in a US raid in northern Syria last month. Daesh has named a new leader.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk