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Beirut – Media sources recently revealed that Turkey sent Syrian fighters to Baku about a month ago before the outbreak of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, as thousands of other mercenaries prepared to head to Azerbaijan in the coming days with hope. to obtain the attractive salaries promised by Ankara.
Abu Ahmed, who is part of a Syrian faction loyal to Ankara, is waiting for a badge of departure for Azerbaijan to fight with his forces, in exchange for a salary equal to 80 times what he earns in northwestern Syria, hoping to be able to secure the livelihood from his family that has been displaced by the war.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, hundreds of Syrian fighters are preparing to go to Azerbaijan in the coming days, through private Turkish security companies that will transport them, following the arrival of more than 800 fighters from north and northwest Syria during the last ten days.
The Turkish army is taking advantage of the inhabitants of the areas under its control in northern Syria, especially the Syrians, to attract them with attractive salaries to send them to Azerbaijan to support Baku in its war against Armenia, in a scenario that reproduces the Turkish intervention in Libya pushing thousands of Syrians onto the fierce battlefields.
Turkey had sent to Libya more than 17 thousand mercenaries between Syrians and jihadists of different nationalities to support the Government of National Accord, while for months it has been training thousands of mercenaries in camps within Syria and Turkey, including children, with the aim to send them to different combat fronts, in steps that are part of the Turkish strategy to feed. Conflicts and investment in chaos to expand their influence and suspicious military interventions.
According to media reports, Turkish intelligence, in addition to luring some Syrians to train in the fight in exchange for flimsy financial promises, is forcibly recruiting children for these recruitment operations.
“I registered my name more than a week ago to go to Azerbaijan … for a salary of two thousand dollars a month for a period of three months,” said 26-year-old Abu Ahmed, using a pseudonym on WhatsApp for fear of reveal your identity.
Abu Ahmed the fighter, five years ago, registered his name on a list drawn up by a leader of a Syrian faction loyal to Ankara, similar to many fighters, after announcing the need for fighters with the aim of heading to Azerbaijan via Turkey.
Ankara supports the Azerbaijani army in bloody clashes that broke out nearly a week ago in Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenian separatists, prompting widespread international condemnation and accusations that Turkey had sent Syrian fighters loyal to it, which Baku denies.
Violent battles continued on Saturday between Armenia and Azerbaijan along most of the front line in Nagorno Karabakh, and Yerevan authorities confirmed that Baku launched a major offensive operation on the seventh day after the fighting began.
Meanwhile, Armenia announced on Saturday the killing of 51 additional Armenian separatist militants, bringing the official death toll on both sides to 242.
On Friday, Agence France-Presse was able to communicate, via WhatsApp, with a fighter from the city of Atareb (north) on the front line. In a short comment, he said, “Yes, I am in Azerbaijan,” and apologized for giving more details.
The agency learned from a local source in the city that this fighter was among a group of residents who went to Azerbaijan last month. Two days ago it was announced that their leader, Muhammad al-Shaalan, was killed during the fighting in Nagorno Karabakh.
In a camp for the displaced in northern Syria, where he has been staying with his wife for several months, Abu Ahmed says: “I am waiting for my turn to go to Azerbaijan to save money and reopen a business here.”
“After the displacement, we lost our villages and houses and we had nothing left to eat,” he added.
For years, Abu Ahmed fought in and around Idlib, which is one of the last strongholds of factions opposed to the Syrian regime forces. And he moved from one front to another. However, hostilities have stopped since March, with the implementation of a ceasefire announced by Ankara, which supports the factions, and Moscow, an ally of Damascus, following a widespread attack by regime forces that caused the displacement of about a million Syrians.
