Turkey Starts Sending Captured Foreign Fighters Home From Syria

ISTANBUL — Turkey on Monday started making good on its vow to send foreign fighters who were captured in Syria back to their home countries, including one it sent to the United States, the Interior Ministry told the state-run news agency.

“One American foreign terrorist fighter whose proceedings are completed has been deported,” a ministry spokesman, Ismail Catakli, was quoted as saying by the agency, Anadolu.

Procedures to deport 11 French citizens and seven Germans, along with others from Denmark and Ireland, were underway, Mr. Catakli added, with the German citizens scheduled to be sent back on Thursday. He described the detainees as “foreign terrorist fighters.”

Western countries have strongly resisted taking back fighters for the Islamic State, or their wives and children.