Turkish forces arrested a French terrorist wanted by Paris and suspected of belonging to a French-speaking militant group in Syria.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense issued a statement Monday announcing that a terrorist of French origin, C.G., was arrested while he was trying to cross illegally into Turkey from Syria.
The statement added that the Turkish border guards arrested the French terrorist in Reyhanli district of Hatay border state, indicating that he tried to hide his identity during the initial investigations, as he was carrying a false identity card.
The statement pointed out that the French terrorist is wanted on a Red Notice, and was taken to the Security Directorate in Reyhanli to complete legal procedures against him.
“Following the investigation, it was determined that the person was part of a structure called ‘Firqatul Ghuraba’ consisting mainly of French-origin people,” it added.
The group is headed by Omar Diaby, also known as Omar Omsen, who is a French national suspected of funneling francophone fighters to Syria. He was captured in August in Syria by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), al-Qaeda affiliate, which controls most of Idlib, in northwestern Syria.
In the years following the conflict in Syria, Turkey became one of the crossing points for foreign terrorists seeking to enter the war-struck country.
Turkey was accused of supporting terrorist organizations such as ISIS, but since 2018 the country has been launching regular arrest campaigns against terrorists.
In November last year, the Turkish authorities launched a process to deport foreign ISIS members to their countries of origin. Back then, the Interior Minister, Suleyman Soylu, warned that Turkey “is not a hotel” for ISIS terrorists who are citizens of other countries.
About 1,150 ISIS terrorists will be sent back to their countries, 250 of whom have already been deported, and the rest are still waiting in the deportation centers.
Meanwhile, the International Crisis Group estimated that thousands of Turkish citizens affiliated with ISIS returned to their country from Syria and Iraq.
The National Defense Ministry announced Sunday that 68 terrorists have been neutralized in domestic and cross-border anti-terror operations over the past month.
Spokeswoman Sebnem Aktop said that the Turkish Armed Forces continued their operations against terror groups, namely ISIS, saying a total of 33 operations have been conducted.
The spokeswoman noted that a total of 5,753 people who attempted to cross the border illegally were detained, adding that 39 terrorists were also captured.