Turkey deports foreigners on way to join ISIS

The Turkish authorities have deported 1,170 foreigners alleged to be travelling through Turkey to join ISIS in Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

“According to foreign ministry data, 12,520 people suspected of links with terrorist organisations have been banned from entering Turkey,” he told a press conference. “We have also deported a total of 1,170 people.”

The president added that the figures showed that Turkey was doing its bit by containing the flow of foreign fighters to ISIS. He vowed to continue this effort.

Earlier this week, Turkish security forces apprehended a British woman in Ankara on suspicion that she was seeking to join the militant group in Syria. The woman was deported to Britain on Thursday.

Last Saturday, Turkey returned three teenagers to London after intercepting them at the request of the British authorities. All three were charged with preparing to carry out terrorist acts and arrested by the Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Command when they got back to Britain, Turkish media reported.

Turkey is reported to be the co-chair of an international sub-committee on foreign fighters, alongside the Netherlands, looking at ways to stem the flow of foreign fighters joining Islamists in Syria.