(Bloomberg) -- An American suspected of being an Islamic State militant is stranded between Turkey and Greece, highlighting the difficulty in handling jihadist prisoners no one wants.
Turkish police accompanied the unidentified U.S. citizen to the Kastanies border post on Monday and asked Greek police to let him enter. They refused.
In video footage aired by Turkey’s Haber 7 television network, the man is seen on a strip of road in front of a fence, where he’s said to have spent the night, and shouts out, “Hey, hi” to reporters.
He’s one of 242 suspected foreign fighters captured by Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government launched a cross-border operation in northeastern Syria last month, Interior Ministry spokesman Ismail Catakli told state-run Anadolu Agency on Monday.
Turkey has already successfully deported two suspected fighters to Germany and Denmark; seven more Germans will be flown back on Nov. 14, said a Turkish official familiar with the matter. But the man marooned in the border zone suggests it won’t be that easy to deport them all.
Talks are underway regarding his fate, said a Turkish official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. He carries valid travel documents and wanted to be sent to Greece, the official said.
No Record
The Greek police said that they found no record of any wrongdoing by the individual in Greek and partner country databases and that he remains on the Turkish side of the crossing, called Pazarkule.
Erdogan is due to meet President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday, and made his position clear before boarding a plane to fly to the U.S.
“We are not really interested in whether he’s stranded at the border or not,” Erdogan of the suspected jihadist. “We will keep sending them, we are not interested in whether they take them back or not.”
Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu recently complained about European inaction on Nov. 2 and said it was “unacceptable” some countries, including the Netherlands and the U.K., have stripped some Islamic State fighters of their citizenship to absolve themselves of any responsibility.
“We are not a hotel for anybody’s Islamic State members,” he said.
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