Turkey on Monday said it had deported an American and a Danish citizen accused of belonging to ISIS, as it began repatriating foreign fighters to their home nations.
Germany confirmed that one of its citizens was also expelled, and seven other German nationals were due to leave the country on Thursday, Ismail Catakli, spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, told the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Two Irish nationals and 11 Frenchmen who were captured in Syria were also due to be flown to their home countries soon, he added.
In all, more than 20 Europeans are still in the process of being deported.
The Danish national was arrested on arrival at Copenhagen airport after being deported on Monday and Copenhagen police said the man had already been sentenced to four years in prison for joining ISIS.
But there was confusion over the fate of the US citizen, with Greece saying that Turkey had tried to deport him over their shared border.
Greek police said they rejected the man and sent him back to Turkey. Images showed him temporarily trapped between the two borders early on Monday.
A State Department official said that US authorities "are aware of reports of the detainment of a US citizen by Turkish authorities" but could not comment further because of privacy rules.
There are 813 militants being held at 12 deportation centres in Turkey, state broadcaster TRT Haber reported.
Suleyman Soylu, the Turkish Interior Minister, said about 1,200 foreign ISIS fighters were in Turkish prisons and 287 members, including women and children, were recaptured during Turkey’s military offensive into north-east Syria last month.
Turkey, which is facing claims that it has not actively pursued ISIS suspects, has criticised western states for refusing to take back citizens who fought with the terrorist group.
European nations have sought to extradite suspects to Iraq to face trial there rather.
There are concerns that the prosecution of suspects under European laws would be difficult and sentences would be short.
France particularly has sought to have its nationals tried in Baghdad and is pushing to set up a European fund to cover the costs on behalf of the Iraqi state.
The UK has stripped several high-profile ISIS suspects of British citizenship and issued temporary exclusion orders to stop them trying to return to the UK.
London insists suspects should be tried by the countries in which their crimes were committed, mostly in Iraq and Syria.
But Turkey is now pledging to send back ISIS suspects even if their citizenship has been revoked.
Most of those captured managed to escape from Kurdish detention when guards were sent to fight against the Turkish incursion.
Turkey launched the offensive against the Kurdish YPG militia last month after a decision by US President Donald Trump to withdraw troops from the region.
The move prompted widespread concern over the fate of ISIS prisoners.
The YPG is the main element of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which has been a leading US ally in beating back ISIS.
It kept thousands of militants and ISIS supporters in jails and detention camps across north-east Syria.
Turkey’s move to transfer ISIS foreign militants comes amid Ankara’s frustration with western nations that refused to back its offensive.
Ankara considers Kurdish militias to be terrorists because of their links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has been waging an insurgency in Turkey since 1984.
Its offensive angered Washington and Turkey's main European Nato allies.
There has yet to be any confirmation from the US about the deportation, or comments from other countries that may have been approached by Turkey about repatriation of their citizens.
Meanwhile, three French women who escaped from a camp for suspected militants in northern Syria say they want to go home and face whatever legal action Paris hands out over their links to ISIS.
The three are in Syria's Suluk town, which is under the control of Syrian rebels backed by Turkey.
They said they fled during the chaos of Ankara's incursion last month and turned themselves over to Turkish troops, hoping to go home.
The women suggested they were prepared to go France for the sake of their children, and said conditions in the camp in Ain Issa, run by the SDF, were very hard.
They gave no details of their lives before detention.
They are believed to be among the wives and children of former ISIS fighters killed or detained after the militant group was expelled from its strongholds in Iraq and Syria.
"We want to go back for our children to go on with their lives," one of the women said.
"I’ve been here for five years and I want to go back and go on with my life, go back to the time I lost. That's it.”
A second woman said she wanted to return to France quickly and whatever the French courts decided was "not a problem".
"Children got sick very quickly," she said. "There was not much to eat. I want to go back to France with my son."
A third woman said: "We have no problems with a ruling in France. It is for that reason that we handed ourselves over to the Turks, to go back to our country."
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
'Nope'
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SPEC SHEET
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Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, Smart HDR
Video: 4K @ 25/25/30/60fps, full HD @ 25/30/60fps, slo-mo @ 120/240fps
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Price: Wi-Fi – Dh2,499 (64GB) / Dh3,099 (256GB); cellular – Dh3,099 (64GB) / Dh3,699 (256GB)
The biog
Name: Marie Byrne
Nationality: Irish
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption
Book: Seagull by Jonathan Livingston
Life lesson: A person is not old until regret takes the place of their dreams
South Africa squad
Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen (wicketkeeper), Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada.
