Turkey Sends Back Home American ISIL Suspect
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Turkish interior minister said Friday that his department has deported an American who is suspected of fighting for Daesh terror group to the United States.
The man, who was stranded in a no man’s land between Greece and Turkey, was put on a plane “a short time ago,” said Suleyman Soylu.
The suspect had been stuck in the border area for five days.
On Thursday, Turkey's Interior Ministry said repatriation was underway after the US agreed to accept him and provided travel documents, NBC reported.
NBC News has not independently verified the man's identity or nationality.
This week Turkey began a long-promised operation to send captured foreign Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) militants to their home nations. One American fighter has already been sent to the US, it said.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said last week that Turkey was not a "hotel" for militants, adding that there are around 1,200 of them in Turkish jails.
The situation is complicated by several Western states having stripped known ISIS fighters and collaborators of their citizenship, essentially leaving them stateless.
