It will be up to the next government to decide whether Belgian jihadi that are currently in detained in prisons and refugee camps in northern Syria should be brought back to Belgium. The Foreign Minister in Belgium’s outgoing federal government Bernard Quintin (Francophone liberal) says that any decision on repatriation should be taking “by a government with full powers”.
Next federal government must decide on repatriation jihadi that fought in Syria, says Belgian Foreign Minister
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Mr Quintin is on a working visit to Turkey and yesterday discussed the situation in Syria with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan. After the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was ousted from power by rebel groups last month, an interim government is currently at the helm in Syria.
The Kurds, who control much of the north of Syria and run the prisons and refugee camps there, fear a resurgence of terror group Islamic State (IS) and military offensives by Turkish-backed armed groups during what is an uncertain transitional period.
Mr Quintin admits that the tensions in Syria have him given him cause for concern with regard to security in Syrian refugee camps and prisons. Nevertheless, he says that the situation is currently under control.
“The situation is not completely stable, but so far the camps have remained secure”, the Belgian Foreign Minister told VRT News.
“Issue of national security”
Mr Quintin stressed that for Belgium, as for other European countries, this is “a matter of national security”.
There are reportedly 13 Belgian jihadi still detained in prisons in north-eastern Syria. “They are not all Belgian nationals, but they have links to our country”, the Director of the terror threat analysis organ OCAD Gert Vercauteren said in a newspaper interview in mid-December. In addition to this, 8 Belgian women and 9 children are said to be in refugee camps in the region.
In 2021, Belgium already repatriated woman and children that have Belgian nationality from the camps. The question has now arisen as to whether this should happen again and whether this time Belgian jihadi should be repatriated too.
Mr Quintin says that “That is a decision I cannot make alone”, adding that he believes that it will be up to the next federal government to decide. “We need a government with full powers in order to make a decision like the one that was taken 2021.”
The Belgian Foreign Minister added that the first priority is that “security in the camps and prisons is guaranteed”. Like Turkey, Mr Quintin believes that this is a matter for the interim government in Syria. In addition to this it is also important for Belgium “to know who is in the camps and where the Belgian jihadi are”.