January 11, 2016•Update: January 11, 2016
ANKARA
Turkey has barred nearly 36,000 individuals from 124 countries over suspected links to Daesh, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said Monday.
“Sometimes we give figures about the fight against Daesh,” he told journalists in Ankara. “We put exclusion orders on 35,970 people from 124 countries.” The minister did not give a period in which the exclusion orders were issued.
He added: “We expelled 2,896 people from Turkey. The fight against terror in many fields is on our agenda.”
Ala went on to question whether the West was doing its share in fighting terrorism. “They talk more and work less,” he claimed.
Turning to the Kurdish conflict in southeast Turkey, Ala said curfews had been declared in some urban areas to “save our citizens’ lives and not to make their lives miserable.”
He added: “We will progress in a fast way. We will never leave our brothers in the hands of the terrorists and those who benefit from terror.”
On Monday, the Turkish military announced that 448 PKK terrorists had been killed in operations since Dec. 15.
Around 300 soldiers, police and civilians have been killed since the conflict reignited in late July, according to officials.
