CNN spoke with a Syrian national who has been signed up for a trip to Azerbaijan from northern Syria. The man, who declined to give his real name, said he lived in the Afrin area of northern Syria but was originally from Damascus.
He said he belonged to a group of rebel Syrian national forces, backed by Turkey. Its leader told people ready to register to go to Azerbaijan. “I did it voluntarily and signed up for 90% of my unit,” he told CNN via CNTS. “They told us they would give us 500 1,500 a month.
“Our contract is for three months, and each month we will be paid by the unit commander,” he said, adding that he did not know who was financing the operation.
The fighters, contacted by CNN, said volunteers were gathering in the Hoover Kilis area near the Syria-Turkey border. The crossing is controlled by a group of Syrian National Army.
CNN reached out to the Turkish government for an answer on whether it is recruiting Syrian fighters to go to Azerbaijan. The State Department said they were “baseless allegations.”
Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry also denied that Syrian fighters were on Azeri soil and “spoke of a completely false and condemnatory campaign in some foreign media regarding the importation of fighters from Syria into Azerbaijan.” It said Armenia was behind the allegations.
The fighter, contacted by CNN, the father of three, said his family lives below the poverty line. He was ready to travel to Azerbaijan because of the money, and the whole world knows that the Syrians living here are starving. ”
Initially, the man thought the volunteers would be on guard duty “but after the first contingent of fighters went to Azerbaijan, we learned that it was like fighting in Syria and Libya.”
“We learned it’s a war and it doesn’t work for the security company,” he said.
The man said he heard “about 1,000 fighters or more” signed up. “None of my relatives went to the first batch, but I know the boys who went to the first batch,” he told CNN. He also heard that some Syrians had been killed in Azerbaijan.
The man, who was a carpenter, said he wanted to bring normalcy to life and that he only went to Azerbaijan for money. “I want the war to end in Azerbaijan and Armenia but the only work is security work and that way I can still provide food and livelihood for my children.”
Karmi Khadder reports from Jerusalem and Gul Tuysuz from Istanbul. Tim Lister wrote in Cordoba.
.
