ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkish foreign minister said on Thursday that the Kurdish-led forces should not keep the Islamic State (ISIS) prisoners and their families, calling on the new authority in Damascus to take over the security of all camps and prisons.
“The Syrian government should urgently take over the security of the camps and prisons, and if this is not possible, Turkey is ready to provide any support it can on this matter,” Hakan Fidan told reporters during a joint press conference with his Belgian counterpart in Ankara.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) hold around 10,000 ISIS prisoners. It also keeps over 40,000 people, mostly wives and children of ISIS fighters, at the notorious al-Hol camp in Hasaka city, northeast Syria (Rojava).
Fidan said the SDF should no longer be in charge of camps and prisons, calling for the repatriation of the foreigners.
“These detainees in camps and prisons must be repatriated by their respective countries. Keeping them here indefinitely without subjecting them to any judicial process and without any plan or agenda for their future has turned into a significant crisis in the region,” said the top Turkish diplomat.
“Particularly, bringing in another terrorist organization, the PKK, to manage these ISIS detainees is a major impasse and crisis currently facing the international system,” he noted.
Turkey considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG), backbone of the SDF, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK – a Kurdish armed group which has waged a decades-long war against the Turkish state. Ankara has designated both groups as terrorist organizations.
Kurdish authorities in Rojava have repeatedly called on the international community to repatriate their nationals held at al-Hol camp.
Iraqi authorities are preparing to repatriate over 500 nationals from the camp in the coming days, informed Iraqi and Kurdish sources told Rudaw earlier this week.
Iraq has repatriated over 10,000 nationals from the camp so far, according to official figures.
Iraq’s National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji held a meeting with relevant authorities, including the migration minister, on Thursday to discuss the fate of Iraqis held in Rojava. It made “a series of important decisions to resolve this issue,” read a statement from Araji’s office without elaborating.
A senior Iraqi official told Rudaw later on Thursday that the meeting decided to repatriate all ISIS-linked Iraqis held in Rojava camps and prisons.
The SDF has warned the ISIS sleeper cells are exploiting the latest escalations in the country, especially constant attacks by Turkey and Syrian militants it supports on the SDF, to make a come back.
Mohammed Khoshnaw contributed to this article.
