"It is not possible to accept this. We will send back Daesh members in our hands to their own countries whether they revoke their citizenships or not," he said, using the derogatory Arabic -acronym for the terrorist group.

Soylu complained of European inaction on the matter.

"They found an easy solution," he said. "They say, 'I took his nationality away; it's your problem now'. That's unacceptable in our view; that's totally irresponsible. What do you want me to do with your terrorist?"

It remains unclear whether Ankara will be able to extradite them in practice, however. Although under the New York Convention of 1961, it is illegal to leave someone stateless, several countries, including the UK and France, have not ratified it, and recent cases have triggered prolonged legal battles.

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The UK is known to have revoked the citizenship of at least 100 individuals for allegedly joining terrorist groups abroad, but the real number is thought to be higher.

They include Shamima Begum, the London schoolgirl, who is now appealing a Home Office decision which left her stateless; Jack Letts, who also holds Canadian citizenship, and British-born Ashraf Islam.

Under counter-terrorism laws passed by the Coalition in 2015, Australian terrorists can lose their citizenship, but only if they have a second nationality and therefore will not be rendered stateless. The government has stripped IS recruiter Neil Prakash of his Australian passport believing he held Fijian nationality as well, but Fiji has denied that. Prakash is in jail in Turkey.

Many foreign fighters are still being held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who have been pleading with coalition members to take their nationals back for more than a year.