UPDATE - Turkey deports 11 French citizens over Daesh/ISIS links

UPDATE TO HEADLINE AND OVERALL NUMBER OF TERRORISTS

By Muhammed Boztepe

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey deported 11 French citizens over links to the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group, the Interior Ministry announced on Monday.

The ministry statement said that 71 foreign Daesh/ISIS members were sent to their home countries from Nov. 11 to Dec. 9.

They include 18 German, 11 French, two Belgian, two Dutch, one Danish, one Australian, one British, one American, and one Irish nationals.

"No matter what we will send Daesh/ISIS members back, we are not their hotel," Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said last month.

The issue of the handling of Daesh/ISIS members and their families detained in Syria -- including foreign members of the terror group -- has been controversial, with Turkey arguing foreign-born terrorists should be returned to their countries of origin.

Ankara has said several European countries turned down its efforts to send Daesh/ISIS members back to their countries.

Turkey has so far deported 7,500 Daesh/ISIS members, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week, adding that there are currently 1,149 Daesh/ISIS terrorists in Turkish prisons.