Turkey sending ISIS women back to NL is "very disappointing", Justice Min. says

Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security called it "very disappointing" that Turkey decided to deport two women suspected of participating in terrorist organization ISIS to the Netherlands. The women, with two children, arrived at Schiphol on Tuesday. The women were arrested and the children transferred to the Child Protection Board, the Public Prosecution Service said.

Over the past days Grapperhaus tried everything in his power to change his Turkish colleague's mind, but to no avail. "Very disappointing", he said in parliament on Wednesday, NOS reports. "And then I express myself courteously, because that befits a Minister."

The women involved are Xaviera S. from Apeldoorn and Fatima H. from Tilburg, according to NOS. The two children, aged 3 and 4, are Fatima's. Her Dutch nationality has been revoked and she is now only Moroccan. What that means for her children, is not clear. Fatima H. reported to the Dutch embassy in Ankara in October, Xaviera S.'s has been in custody in Turkey since January 2018.

Turkey gave two reasons for deporting Fatima H. to the Netherlands, despite her no longer having Dutch nationality. Turkey does not have sufficient extradition agreements with Morocco, and it was the Netherlands' own choice to revoke her nationality, the country said.

Both women are in custody, Fatima H. as an unwanted foreigner. The Public Prosecution Service plans to prosecute them for participating in a terrorist organization. The idea is that if H. is convicted, she will serve her sentence in the Netherlands and then be deported to Morocco.

Despite the return of these two women, Grapperhaus is still positive about future cooperation with Turkey. There are still a number of alleged ISIS jihadist in Turkey that no longer have Dutch nationality, but the Minister has no indications that they will be put on a plane to the Netherlands in the near future, he said.

Turkey started sending the alleged ISIS jihadists it has in custody back to their home countries last week, according to NU.nl. Exactly how many prisoners are involved is not yet clear, but the Turkish government believes it can extradite the majority of them by the end of the year. In addition to the two women, Turkey so far sent 10 Germans, one American, and one Brit back to their home country.