Turkey sends American ISIS fighter and two Irish nationals back home as Erdogan vows to deport 2,500 fanatics
TURKEY is repatriating an American ISIS fighter and two Irish nationals as president Tayyip Erdogan vows to deport 2,500 fanatics.
The identities of the Irish detainees have not been publicised, but they are believed to be ISIS bride Lisa Smith and her two-year-old daughter.
A Turkish government official confirmed that an unnamed American has been deported home, and a German and Danish national will also be flown home later today.
Two Irish nationals, two further German nationals and 11 French nationals who were captured in Syria would also be transferred to their countries of origin soon, said Turkish Interior Ministry spokesman Ismail Catakli.
Officials from Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs have reportedly been deployed to Turkey's border region to retrieve 38-year-old Lisa Smith, who travelled to Syria three years ago to join the Islamic State.
FORMER PRIVATE
Members of the Irish military and its special operations force, the Army Ranger Wing, are understood to be assisting with the operation.
Smith is herself a former private in the military and member of the Irish Air Corps, but quit the forces in 2011 following her conversion to Islam.
She is thought to have left her home in Dundalk, Co Louth for Syria in 2015.
Smith later married British jihadi Sajid Aslam, by whom she had daughter Rakeya, but who she says was later killed in fighting.
Despite her military training, she claims never to have fought for ISIS, though is suspected of helping to train younger women in combat.
Ismail Catakli stressed that Turkey is determined to return all "foreign terrorist fighters to their own countries."
He confirmed to local media that "this morning, a foreign terrorist fighter from the United States was deported from Turkey after the procedures at the deportation centre were completed."
Turkey has accused Western countries, especially in Europe, of being too slow to take back citizens who travelled to the Middle East to fight on behalf of the terror group.
NOT A 'HOTEL'
Earlier, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that Turkey was not "a hotel" for ISIS militants and announced that the deportations would start as of today.
Soylu warned that Ankara would send the jihadis back to their home countries, even if the nations the fighters came from had revoked their citizenship.
So far, America, Denmark, Germany and Britain have revoked citizenship from some fighters and family members.
These include mum-of-one Hoda Muthana, whose US citizenship was revoked as a result of her support for ISIS. She urged fanatics to "spill American blood" in terror attacks.
Former East London schoolgirl Shamima Begum, currently living at the al-Roj refugee camp, is currently appealing the withdrawal of her British citizenship by the government.
State broadcaster TRT Haber reported that Turkey aimed to repatriate around 2,500 militants, the majority of whom will be sent to European Union nations.
There are 813 militants awaiting repatriation at 12 deportation centres in Syria, it added.
President Erdogan said that Turkey has captured 13 people from the inner circle of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who died during a US raid last month.