Turkey to start extraditing Daesh/ISIS members Nov. 11

ANKARA

Turkey will start extraditing captured Daesh/ISIS terrorists Nov. 11 to their home countries, according to Turkey’s interior minister.

"PYD[/PKK terror group] releases Daesh [/ISIS] terrorists and we capture them," Suleyman Soylu told an opening ceremony in Ankara.

"We tell Europe that we will send those [Daesh terrorists] back to you, and we hopefully start as of Monday," Soylu said, adding that they are citizens of European countries.

Ankara tells Europe that it will send Daesh/ISIS members back to their countries, but European countries refuse, saying that Daesh terrorists were denationalized.

"They say, we revoked their citizenship so you can do whatever you want [with them]," Soylu added.

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

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.

Underlining Turkey’s determination to fight Daesh/ISIS, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that over the years Turkey has barred entry of 76,000 members of the terror group.

Turkey has so far deported 7,500 Daesh/ISIS members, Erdogan said, adding that there are currently 1,149 Daesh/ISIS terrorists in its 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.

“Turkey struggles for years for the sake of humanity without making any distinction among terrorist organizations,” Soylu said, referring to two PKK terrorists who were revealed to be on Turkey’s most-wanted list Thursday.

Neutralized in a domestic anti-terror operation in July, two PKK terrorists were revealed to be on Turkey’s most-wanted list, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

Hejar Celik, codenamed Numan Batman, and Ishak Ozcaktu, codenamed Erhan Garzan Porsipi, were among five terrorists neutralized in an air-backed operation in the eastern Diyarbakir province on July 19.

The two terrorists -- listed on the red category naming those most-wanted of the Interior Ministry -- were sought with 4 million Turkish liras ($696,360) bounty on each.

*Zehra Nur Duz contributed to the story from Ankara