Palau's former president has confirmed one of six former Guantanamo Bay detainees released to the tiny island republic of Palau in 2009 has resettled in Turkey.
Reached by phone Wednesday, Johnson Toribiong said 43-year-old Adel Noori left Palau shortly before Toribiong's term ended late last year.
A U.S. official familiar with the situation said Toribiong's administration informed the U.S. Noori made arrangements on his own to leave the country.
Noori was among six Uighurs from the restive Chinese province of Xinjiang who were arrested in 2001 in Afghanistan and Pakistan and held for nearly eight years at Guantanamo Bay before being released to Palau.
The United States determined in 2008 they were not "enemy combatants." China says the men are terrorists and wants them returned.
