Turkey repatriates Australian foreign terrorist fighter

An Australian foreign terrorist was repatriated as part of Turkey’s repatriation process of former Daesh members who took part in terrorist activities, the Interior Ministry announced on Sunday.
"The repatriation of foreign terrorist fighters is ongoing. In line with this, an Australian foreign terrorist fighter has now been deported back to his country," the Interior Ministry said in its statement.
Some 200 Daesh terrorists whose countries of origin were determined will be sent to their countries or any third country of their choosing. Currently, there are 938 foreign terrorist fighters being held in Turkey’s repatriation centers who are EU citizens. The deportation process for such prisoners was launched beginning on Nov. 11.
Turkey has long voiced calls for returning foreign fighters to their respective countries as the best possible solution among other unfavorable options. With their return to the EU, the citizens would be prosecuted and thus prevented from being further radicalized in camps with poor conditions.
The first batch of former Daesh terrorists to be repatriated from 28 centers in 23 provinces, were of German, Danish and U.S. origin. The U.S. citizen had demanded to be sent to Greece, yet had been left in a buffer zone when the country did not accept him. After the U.S. citizen, foreign terrorist fighters of Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands and Belgium were sent back, followed by an Irish citizen who was the last one, according to the Interior Ministry.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced on Nov. 28 in Izmir that 11 French former Daesh terrorists would be sent to France at the beginning of December.
Moreover, Turkey has also prevented 8,922 foreign terrorist fighters from entering the country since 2016.
“The permanent solution regarding foreign terrorist fighters is that these people are being taken by the countries they are citizens of, tried in their countries and rehabilitated. We cannot reach a solution by revoking their citizenships, this is also no way to fight responsibilities,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hami Aksoy said on Friday, adding that this process is being carried out with the cooperation of the concerned countries.