Turkey deports 11 French Isis suspects after clash with Macron over Syria conflict

Turkey has expelled 11 suspected French Isis members after it Ankara warned it would not hold foreign terrorists and warned western states over their reluctance to not take responsibility for citizens who joined the terror regime. Ankara warned last month that it was not a “hotel” for foreign terrorists, and criticised Western states over their reluctance to take back citizens who had joined the ranks of Isis.

Turkey on Monday deported 11 French Islamic State (Isis) suspected members back to France as part of a drive to repatriate captured foreign militants and their families. A spokesman for Turkey’s interior ministry said in a statement: “The repatriation of foreign Isis fighters continues. In this context, 11 French nationals have been sent home.”

As part of a 2014 agreement with Ankara, French nationals arrested by Turkish authorities have previously been deported back to France in coordination with French authorities.

Around 250 French nationals have been repatriated under the accord since 2014.

The Isis prisoners, four Isis brides and their seven children, were arrested in Turkey after escaping from a detention camp in north-east Syria, according to a source.

Turkish officials did not give details about the women but said at least two were known to French intelligence services and that all four would be handed over to judicial authorities when they arrive.

The seven Isis children will be handed over to social services.

Last month, Turkey launched a push to send back captured foreign fighters to their home countries, warning Western states that it was not a “hotel” for Isis extremists and excoriating them for their reluctance to take back citizens who had joined the Isis “caliphate”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for his part, stressed Ankara would continue repatriating foreign jihadists to their home countries even if they decline to take them back.

“Whether [foreign Isis fighters] are stuck there at the border it doesn’t concern us. Whether they take them or not, it is not our concern,” Mr Erdogan said, as he urged Western governments to “take care of your own problem”.

Turkey has repeatedly called on European nations to take back their nationals belonging to Isis, but many governments are dragging their feet, fearing a public backlash and security problems.

While Ankara has quietly deported Isis fighters and their relatives for years, it raised the issue more forcefully after its Western allies refused to back its October offensive against Syrian Kurdish fighters, whom it considers to be terrorists linked to Kurdish militants fighting inside Turkey.

Many Western states, including France, have bitterly criticised the Turkish incursion, warning it could lead to a resurgence of Isis.

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron accused Turkey of working with Isis proxies during its controversial offensive, and said Paris and Ankara did not have “the same definition of terrorism”.

France, which has between 400-500 nationals held in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria, including about 60 fighters, has been adamant that it will not take back adults that joined the ranks of Isis, whom it says should be treated as “enemies” of the state.

It wants to strike an agreement with Iraq on taking and prosecuting its nationals from Syria.