Turkey detains 690 people at Syrian border

KİLİS / ANKARA

DHA Photo

Turkish security forces detained 690 people who illegally crossed the Syrian border into Turkey on May 19, the Turkish General Staff has said in a statement on its website. 

“690 people who crossed into Turkey illegally and two people who attempted to cross into Turkey from Syria illegally have been captured,” said the statement, without elaborating on the nationalities of these people. 

It also said that 10 people were captured while crossing into Turkey from Iraq, while 17 people were captured as they attempted to cross into Greece via Turkey on the same day. 

Meanwhile, Turkish gendarmerie forces detained five people, including two Turks, two Tajikistanis and one British national, in Kilis near the Syrian border as they attempted to cross into Syria.

The gendarmerie forces first detained the two Turks in Aşağı Beylerbeyi village as they were attempting to cross into Syria illegally. 

Later on, the security forces also detained two Tajikistanis and one British national in the area before they crossed into Syria. The three foreigners were sent to a deportation center. 

Turkey has deported 1,350 foreigners suspected of seeking to join radical groups in Syria and Iraq over the past few years, and has a list of some 14,000, drawn up with the help of foreign intelligence agencies, who are barred from entering the country.