UPDATE - Turkey: US citizen Daesh terrorist repatriated

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey has repatriated one Daesh/ISIS terrorist from the U.S. and this week will deport several more terrorists back to Germany, the country’s Interior Ministry said on Monday.

“A U.S. citizen Daesh terrorist has been repatriated after the completion of legal procedures,” Ismail Catakli, ministry spokesman, told Anadolu Agency.

The deportation of a German national Daesh terrorist is in progress, Catakli said, adding that a Danish Daesh terrorist would also be repatriated on Monday.

“So, a total of three foreign national terrorists will be deported from our country today,” he added.

Seven more German national Daesh terrorists will also be deported on Nov. 14, the interior ministry spokesman said.

The legal proceedings for the two Irish national terrorists caught in Syria were about to end and they would also be repatriated soon, he added.

“Two more German national terrorists who had been captured in Syria will be deported […] this week. In addition, the legal proceedings for the 11 French national terrorists who had been captured on the Syrian territories are in progress,” Catakli added.

"Turkey will extradite them no matter what," he stressed.

Turkey’s interior minister on Saturday said Turkey would start extraditing captured Daesh/ISIS terrorists on Nov. 11 to their home countries.

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 repatriated to their countries of origin.

Ankara has said that it will send Daesh/ISIS members back to their countries, but several European countries have refused, saying the terrorists were denationalized.

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.

Since Turkey recognized Daesh/ISIS as a terrorist group in 2013, the Turkish state has been attacked by Daesh/ISIS terrorists numerous times, including 10 suicide bombings, seven bombings, and four armed attacks which killed 315 people, including police officers and soldiers, and injured hundreds.

In response to the attacks, Turkey launched anti-terror operations at home and abroad, neutralizing 3,500 Daesh/ISIS terrorists and arresting 5,500.