ANKARA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Turkey has sent back a total of 59 foreign Islamic State (IS) suspects since Nov. 11 as Ankara had started deporting foreign extremists from repatriation centers in the country, Turkish Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters, the ministry's spokesperson Ismail Catakli said a total of 369,690 Syrian refugees have so far returned to their homeland.
Turkey has declared that it will send thousands of captured IS militants, mostly from Europe, back to their countries even if their citizenships were deprived.
Turkey repatriated five foreign militants to Germany on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
"Turkey is not a hotel for IS fighters," said the Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu earlier, criticizing European countries for their reluctance to take back citizens captured and imprisoned by Turkish authorities.
Among the deported IS suspects were German, Danish, British, American, Dutch, French, Irish citizens, according to local media reports.
