Turkey issues travel ban on foreign fighters

Ankara: Turkish authorities have issued a travel ban on over 12,000 foreign fighters who aim to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday said Turkish intelligence authorities selected most of the fighters based on their information and not the fighters' source country, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

In January, Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala stated that Turkey had put a ban on 7,833 suspected people and deported 1,056 foreign fighters.

Turkey has beefed up security measures to prevent foreign fighters from crossing into Syria.

Ankara often calls on European countries to share more information on suspected foreign fighters and asks for stopping them before they travel to Turkey.