Turkey detains four Russians trying to enter Syria
Xinhua, April 2, 2015 Adjust font size:
Turkish police on Tuesday detained four Russian nationals trying to illegally enter Syria, said an official statement.
The Russians will be deported after legal investigations, the statement added.
The detention came one day after the arrest of nine Britons on the Turkish-Syrian border, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement.
A British woman, who was detained in Ankara on suspicion of trying to enter Syria to join the Islamic States (IS) militant group, was deported in March, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.
Three British teenagers suspected of planning to join the IS were detained in Istanbul in February and later deported.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that around 1,154 foreign fighters have been deported from Turkey and that 19,500 people are banned from travelling to the country.
Turkey has become a transit route into Syria for thousands of foreigners who want to join the ranks of radical groups such as the IS.
Turkish authorities have stepped up border security since 2014, amid mounting criticism that it has not done enough to halt the flow of foreign fighters into the region, particularly from Western countries. Endit