Turkey arrests French citizen seeking to join militants

Turkish authorities have detained and then deported a French national who arrived in the country seeking to join militants in Syria, an official said.

The man, identified only as B.T., had landed last week at Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Istanbul on a flight from Milan, the Turkish official, who asked not to be named, told AFP on Saturday.

After arousing the suspicion of border police, he was detained and questioned.

“After a long and detailed interview, B.T. confessed he was going to Adana [in southern Turkey] on his way to join a terrorist group in Syria,” the official said.

The man was deported back to Italy as the country of the flight’s origin, with the French authorities kept fully informed, he added.

The Turkish government said it has put over 13,500 foreign citizens from 98 countries on an entry blacklist to stop them from travelling to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Turkey, which shares a total of 1,300 kilometers of borders with Iraq and Syria, has rejected suggestions it has not done enough to halt the flow of militants.

It said it has already deported more than 1,350 people suspected of seeking to join ISIS and has set up special “risk centers” at airports to question suspect travelers.

[With AFP]