Turkey sends American ISIS fighter to US after stalemate with Greece
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Suspected ISIS militants at a prison run by Kurdish-led forces in Syria, Oct. 22, 2019.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
ANKARA (REUTERS) - Turkey sent a US citizen suspected of fighting for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to the United States by plane on Friday (Nov 15), Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said, after the man was refused entry to Greece earlier this week.
Turkish authorities started deporting captured ISIS suspects to their home countries on Monday.
Ankara says it has captured 287 militants in north-east Syria, where Turkish troops launched an assault against the Kurdish YPG militia last month, and has hundreds more militant suspects in detention.
One of the suspects, a US citizen of Arab descent, had requested deportation to Greece, but was refused entry by Greek police on Monday.
The suspect had been stuck in a buffer zone between Turkey and Greece, but the Interior Ministry said on Thursday that the United States had agreed to take him back.
Speaking to reporters in Ankara, Soylu said the suspect had been deported and sent to the United States on Friday by plane from Istanbul.
The US State Department said it was aware of the case but would not comment further because of privacy concerns.
Soylu said two German fighters were also deported on the same day.
So far this week, Turkey has also repatriated eight other Germans and one British suspected fighter.
Ankara has said that suspects will be deported to Ireland, France and other nations, mostly European states, in the coming days.
