Turkish nationals make up half of the hundreds of families being held in a camp near Mosul for suspected links to the Islamic State group, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press Saturday.
At the camp near Mosul, Iraqi forces are holding 1,333 women and children.
Many of those detained at the camp are not guilty of any crime, al-Abadi said and his government is "in full communication" with their home countries to "find a way to hand them over."
So far, al-Abadi said, Iraq has repatriated fewer than 100 people.
"But we are working very hard to accelerate this. It is not in our interest to keep families and children inside our country when their countries are prepared to take them," he added.
