Turkey sent 11 French “foreign terrorist fighters” back to France on Monday, the Turkish interior ministry said.

“Eleven French citizens have been deported to their home country,” it said in a statement.

Ankara has lambasted Western countries for refusing to take back their citizens who left to join the Daesh group in Syria and Iraq.

It says it has some 1,200 foreign Daesh members in custody.

The ministry said last week that 59 “foreign terrorists” have been deported to their home countries since November 11, when a new deportation push was started.

Of them, 26 were sent back to the United States and Europe.

“Turkey is no one’s open air prison or hotel,” said ministry spokesman Ismail Catakli, adding that Turkish authorities would deport all of the suspects.

-AFP