More than 35,000 banned from Turkey for suspected ISIL links: Interior Minister

ANKARA

AA Photo

Turkey has placed an entry ban on more than 35,000 people from more than 120 countries over suspected links with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (SIL) to date, Interior Minister Efkan Ala has said.

“We placed a ban on the entry of 35,690 people from 124 countries,” the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Ala as saying on Jan. 11, as he referred to intelligence sharing with other countries in the fight against ISIL. “We captured and deported 2,896 people from 92 countries,” he added.

“This is [the result of] intelligence exchange. But when we meet the interior ministers and foreign ministers of those countries, we are telling them we have almost three million guests, we are on a migration path and we are warning them to do their part,” Ala said.

Long criticized for not doing enough to stem the flow of jihadist fighters crossing its volatile border with Syria, Turkey has stepped up the fight after a number of deadly attacks on Turkish soil blamed on ISIL, arresting would-be jihadists on a nearly daily basis.

In December 2015 the government had said over 2,700 jihadist suspects from 89 countries had been detained in Turkey and deported.