According to reports, the Turkish government recruits Syrian male refugees aged 18 to 35 years old in order to send them to northern Syria to fight in the ranks of Turkish mercenaries.
A Turkish tank passes a Kurdish militia member on a mission into Syria (Photo: AP / Depo Photos / Mursel Coban)
Syrian male refugees aged 18 to 35 years old have been recruited by the Turkish government in order to send them to fight in the ranks of its mercenaries within the framework of Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria, the al-Hadath news portal reported on Thursday. While social network activists have confirmed this report and published photos, showing white buses in Gaziantep, which were used to transport refugees back to battlefields in northern Syria, sources, close to terrorist groups, have denied this information.
“The Turkish authorities force any Syrian refugee of suitable age to get to the white buses in order to be taken back to northern Syria to fight in Ankara’s Euphrates Shield Operation,” the report reads.
On Saturday, media reported that the Turkish Army suffered heavy losses in its operation against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in northern Syria.
According to the Russian Kommersant newspaper, the Turkish forces suffered heavy casualties in Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria, which was started four months ago. As the newspaper reported, at least 16 Turkish soldiers were killed, while 33 others were wounded during only one day of fighting.
The Turkish Army and Ankara-backed militant groups face stiff resistance of the IS in the town of al-Bab, located in the northern part of Aleppo province. The terrorist group surprised Turkish troops and their allies with its suicide fighters, who managed to inflict major losses to the Turkish-led forces. The casualties of the Turkish Army have been unprecedentedly high since the start of the operation on August 24.
Hmm… I wonder how many refugees are actually in Turkey. I often hear 3M but they did the big flush in the summer of 2015 and I have wondered if they have inflated their numbers in order to get more aid and to use as leverage against the EU. Maybe they have shot their bolt and have less than 1M.
A shortage of male conscripts may be a sign of this.
You can use google for this question as you read this news.
I find for you. http://www.unhcr.org/576408cd7.pdf
That is footle report. 3M Syrian refugees in Turkey. If Turkey forcefully them to fight, we should see min. 300.000 Syrian recruits in the battlefield.
this is a bullshit news, I don’t understant Why this US based web site produce doctored news against Turkey ???
The Turks dumped 500k to 1M refugees into the EU in 2015, so maybe they don’t have as many refugees as they let on.
Yes indeed. Many young Syrians left so they would not be conscripted by SAA or NDF And since when is FSA considered a fighting force! Most of the men on white buses are Turkmen or suni Jihadist? Turkey may have to supply more bodies to take Al Bab
Please check again
You seems to enjoy by the NATO country Turkey being hurt in Al Bab. If ISIS win Al Bab, will you happy?
Are 3M Refugees terrorist for you?
I have no doubt that Turkey/FSA will take Al Bab, its just a matter of time. But this needs to be their stop line. Erdogan has stated his intention of taking Manbij area (this may be just talk). This action would mess up Kurd/SDF drive on ISUS Raqqa.
I have no love for FSA, and hope to see them weakened so they can’t cause problems on other fronts. Prefer they just hold area taken, allowing some refugees to resettle in somewhat peaceful area.
Turkeys goal of securing this border area and preventing Kurd linkup is pretty much done. Or does the push continue? Then you have many anti Turkish post on this site to respond to. Apparently there is not much love out there for Mr Erdogan. Or of Turkish support of Jihadist in Idlib province. This support needs to be greatly reduced (this may already be happening).
Firstly not to be forgotten Turkey is a mid size Nato country not a Russia or China. Additionaly PKK/SDF/YPG has organized terror attacks from 40 years against Turkey. Today US support SDF against ISIS. Sometimes SDF use this support against Turkey.
Erdogan is strong a leader who is working for interests of his country. The issue is not erdogan. When US support YPG, Turkish people perceive this personally.
And we should know FSA includes only syrian citizens On the contrary ISIS and YPG.
YPG occupied most of North syria where is mostly not ethnically kurdish ground with US support. White House promised for many time to Turkey about withdrawn YPG from Manbij.
I think we will see Turkish troops in Manbij, Whether we want or not.
Thank you for response. It is always good to see the other side of discussion. Turkey and Russia will work out some type of “ceasefire” and the Idlib terrorist will lose support and become weak.
Since when does undermining the secular foundation Atarurk established for the Turkish Armed forces to make it a professional organisation, by reappointing religious radicals that the military dismissed, count as “working for the interest of his country”? How do mass arrests of judges, prosecutors and journalists, and the suppression of free speech count as “working for the interests of his country”? How does meddling with the constitution to amass greater power to himself, to allow him to more easily ignore or crush dissension even from the country’s parliament count as “working for the interests of his country”? Erdogan is an unstable, fanatical populist thug who exploits people’s basest emotions to wield power, and he is undermining everything good about your country, trying to take it back in time to when it was a corrupt, tottering, backwards empire, “The Sick Man of Europe.” If you have any love for Turkey, Erdogan should be your enemy.
http://www.unhcr.org/576408cd7.pdf
You can find the regular UN refrugee numbers in 2015 this report. Total European countries 1.8 M, Turkey 2.5M.
According to this report, the number of refugees in Turkey increased one million in 2015. However refugee number increased 300,000 in all other european countries.
European countries and USA may want more refugees from Turkey if they are concerned about the refugees participation of the Syrian war.
Please think again…
Syrian in Germany are mostly men conscript age from educated families. Turkey probably has another selection in the refugee camps where they easily can be conscripted because they rely on handouts.
this was always the argument against the “bad pkk”…
Yesterday Turkey NATO was having coup at home today their are fighting in Iraq and Syria.CIA plan.Let me kill my own brothers to please Nato for membership.
Regardless of whether this is accurate or not , the Turks are on a dangerous path. Erdogan cannot be trusted. He is a double dealing pro-Sunni-Islamist megalomaniac. One day soon he will drag the US and Russia/Iran into an armed conflict. Nato and the EU have been duped by this man. It’s time the Turks got rid of him. He’s brought nothing but misery for Syrians and bloodshed for Turkey by allowing his country to be used as a conduit for terrorists and their arms.
Erdogan is a delusional schizophrenic megalomaniac and genocidal dictator who is leading his country to an uncertain down spiral path.
Erdogan and Putin have a solid internal following. Both figures are associated with economic improvements, sinking unemployment and boom. No way, they will not lose backing as long as the country prosers.
Putin maybe yes, Erdogan definitely no. The Turkish people are worse off now than before. Not to mention that Erdogan has used the Syrian conflict to become more dictatorial and crack down on the Turkish and Syrian Kurds mercilessly. People are disappearing in Turkey , especially journalists who wind up dead. Erdogan’s cronies suppress free speech by killing those trying to expose the truth then blame their demise on terrorism. To Erdogan and his cabal Isis is far less of a threat and far more welcome than the Turkish and Syrian Kurds. Putin most likely knows that Erdogan can stab him in the back any time, so he probably has a smart backup plan to hit Erdogan where it hurts most.
According to my info Erdogan too. Maybe not the last couple of months but general over his tenure. I agree with You about Kurdistan & Kurds and post coup infringements of civil rights for ethnic Turks. Yes. & The coup IMHO was his Reichstagsbrand. Excuse to get dictatorial powers. He seems to vie for Atatürk’s power without the same personal capabilities. Putin easily back stabbed him with sanctions and can do so again. Merkel and Co. should contemplate this approach. Make him unpopular to get rid in the next election.
How amazingly perceptive given todays circumstances….
Not to mention his Failaq al Sham and Sultan Murad Brigades would be better described as al-Qaeda affiliates than FSA. Those are the two units accompanying his since his Euphrates Shield adventure. Both have been part of joint operation rooms with Jabhat al-Nusra, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham or whatever Turkey wants to call al-Qaeda now. Which makes them more al-Qaeda than the YPG is PKK because they have pictures of Ocalan by their own logic.
What they call FSA are simply factions of al-Qaeda.
Allegedly the same deal was used to get mercenaries for SFA and other way back.