The Turkish government has started deporting foreign ISIS fighters back to their country of origin, even if their citizenship has been revoked.
Last week, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced that his country plans to repatriate 2,500 foreign fighters to their home nations, 1,200 of which are ISIS terrorists.
One American has already been deported from Turkey and seven terrorists from Germany will be deported later this week.
“Whatever your objections, whether you take their citizenships or not, we will deport back those [ISIS] fighters who are your own people and your own citizens. No matter what you do. Then you will know what to tell your people. As we have said before, we are nobody’s hotel for [ISIS],” said Soylu about the decision.
According to Global Affairs Canada, the Turkish government has not yet asked Canada to accept any detained extremists who went to fight abroad and have not said whether they are holding any Canadians in custody in Syria.
“We continue to monitor the situation very closely. At the moment, Turkey has not asked Canada to repatriate any Canadians detained in the region,” said a spokesperson for the department.
The Canadian government believes that a total of 180 people have left Canada to fight for extremist and terror groups abroad, 60 of which are believed to have returned.
According to Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale, only four charges have been laid against returned foreign fighters, and two more charges are currently being heard by judges.
One ISIS terrorist is currently living freely in Toronto and attending a Canadian university despite admitting to carrying out executions for the terror group in an interview with the New York Times. The man, only known by his pseudonym Abu Hazaifa Al Kandi, told a journalist that while in Syria he executed one ISIS prisoner and stabbed another man before crucifying him.
Three other Canadian citizens have been publicly identified as ISIS fighters who are currently detained in Syria.
Among them is former Mississauga resident Mohammad Ali, who acted as a propagandist for ISIS and called on sympathizers to commit terror attacks in the west. His social media posts included bragging about playing soccer with severed heads and claiming that non-Muslims and homosexuals “should be killed.”
Ali has since been captured and is urging the Canadian government to let him back into the country.
The parents of Jack Letts, otherwise known as “Jihadi Jack,” have also been asking Canada to allow their son back into the country. Letts has had his citizenship stripped by the U.K. government for having travelled abroad to join ISIS.
