Indonesia: 149 Deported from Turkey for Trying to Join IS in 2017

Turkey has deported 149 Indonesians since the start of the year on suspicion of trying to cross into Syria to join Islamic State, according to Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The figure includes 12 citizens who were sent home by Turkish authorities last week. As many as 221 Indonesians were expelled from Turkey over similar allegations during 2015 and 2016.

This year’s expulsions have taken place as IS strongholds in Syria and Iraq have come under siege by military offensives mounted by the local governments and anti-IS coalition forces.

“The total number of Indonesian citizens deported since 2015 until March 26, 2017 was 370 people, including 149 citizens who were deported since Jan. 1,” Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, who directs the ministry’s Department for the Protection of Citizens and Legal Entities, told BenarNews.

‘Children still need their mothers’

Last week, Indonesian police released 12 newly arrived deportees – four women and eight children aged between 2 and 6 years old – and handed them over to a shelter in East Jakarta run by the Social Ministry.

“It is still under police investigation regarding their motives and the illegal route they tried to take to Syria. This case is handled by BNPT,” Directorate General of Immigration spokesman Agung Sampurno told BenarNews on Friday, referring to Indonesia’s counter-terrorism agency.

Full story: BenarNews

Tia Asmara
Jakarta