Thousands of foreign fighters from countries including Turkey, Britain, Europe and the United States have joined the extreme Muslim group – the Islamic State – in their self-proclaimed caliphate in recent years, many of them passing through Turkey.
Ankara has since launched a crackdown on the networks facilitating their passage. Since launching the crackdown, Turkey said it detained a total of 5,800 people, of which about 2,200 were foreigners.
“During fight against Da’esh (Arabic Acronym for Islamic State), until now 5,800 people were taken under custody, 2,200 are them foreigners. And 973 of them (foreigners) were taken under custody during 2016. Only in 2016, 2147 people were taken under custody and 973 are foreigners. And again only in 2016, 865 people were detained for Da’esh investigation and 476 of them are foreigners,” said Efkan Ala, Turkish Interior Minister.