Turkey ‘deported 3,719 foreign fighters since 2011’
ANKARA
REUTERS photo
The number of foreign fighters deported by Turkey since 2011 has increased to 3,719, senior Turkish officials have said, noting that 51,976 terror suspects have been banned from entering the country in the last five years.According to information provided by senior Turkish officials, foreign terrorist fighters added to Turkey’s no-entry list based on intelligence provided by foreign governments are as follows:
2011 – 283 fighters
2012 – 786 fighters
2013 – 2,066 fighters
2014 – 4,822 fighters
2015 – 27,704 fighters
2016 – 16,315 fighters (first nine months)
Officials said intelligence sharing with Turkey was limited until late 2014 despite calls for closer cooperation to stop the flow of foreign terrorist fighters to Syria.
“U.N. Security Council Resolution 2178, which was adopted in September 2014, marked a turning point in efforts to prevent foreign fighters from crossing national borders,” an official said.
As of September 2016, 51,976 terror suspects have been banned from entering Turkey.
Likewise, there has also been a profound increase in the number of foreign terrorist fighters deported by Turkey over the years:
2011 – 132
2012 – 230
2013 – 192
2014 – 526
2015 – 1,785
2016 – 854 (first nine months)