The handover took place at Baghdad airport in the presence of representatives from Iraq’s Foreign Ministry, the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad, and the United Nation children’s fund UNICEF.
An official told Reuters the handover took place on Wednesday.
“The Central Investigations Court responsible for terror cases and foreign convicts handed the Turkish side 188 children the terrorist Daesh left in Iraq,” said Abdulstar Bayrakdar, spokesperson for Iraq’s High Judicial Council, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
Several adults were also handed over, many of them charged with “illegally crossing the border and expiration of residency”. Their sentences have now been served, the spokesman said.
It is possible the handover was discussed during the Iraqi prime minister’s recent visit to Ankara on May 15.
During the Adil Abdul-Mahdi’s visit, Turkey’s ambassador to Iraq Fatih Yildiz told Turkish state news agency Anadolu that Turkey planned to bring the children back.
“We aim to bring a significant number of children, even if not all of them, before the Ramadan feast. We are working on that,” Yildiz told Anadolu at the time.
“We have agreed with the Iraqi side to alleviate the unjust suffering of the children,” many of which have family in Turkey, he added.
Iraqi President Barham Salih also visited Turkey on Tuesday, meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His visit comes as Turkish forces launch a fresh offensive against Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) inside the Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq.
Turkey is not the only country to have repatriated its nationals born to ISIS members.
France and Germany, Sweden, Tajikistan, Chechnya, Kosovo, and Russia, have all taken back some of their women and children.
Britain and the United States have refused to take back their nationals.
The US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured thousands of foreign ISIS fighters and their families in the dying days of the so-called caliphate. Many now reside in Syria’s vastly overcrowded al-Hol camp.
Conditions in the camp have been described as “extreme”. Foreign women and children have been cordoned off in a separated section away from Iraqis and Syrians.
UNICEF has described the children of foreign ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria as the “world’s most vulnerable children”.
“They live in appalling conditions amid constant threats to their health, safety and well-being. They have little family support: While most are stranded with their mothers or other caregivers, many are completely alone,” UNICEF said in a recent statement.
The camp contains 29,000 children of foreign fighters, mostly under the age of 12, according to UNICEF estimates. Some 20,000 are Iraqi nationals, while the remaining 9,000 are from 60 other countries. A further 1,000 are believed to be in Iraq.
The wives and children of ISIS suspects face discrimination in Iraq. Many have been disowned by their relatives and abandoned by the Iraqi government.
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), some 45,000 children born under ISIS rule in Iraq are undocumented, leaving them marginalized and effectively stateless.
These children have difficulty accessing healthcare and are effectively barred from going to school. They will not be able to marry or own property.
The Yezidi Spiritual Council, the highest religious authority of the Yezidi minority, has rejected the children born of rape by ISIS fighters, leaving the children with an uncertain future.
UNICEF has urged government to respect the rights of children protected under international law.
“These children must be treated primarily as victims, not perpetrators,” UNICEF said in its statement.
