CNN spoke to a Syrian nationwide who has been signed as a lot as journey from northern Syria to Azerbaijan. The particular person, who declined to supply his precise determine, talked about he was residing throughout the Afrin house of northern Syria nonetheless was initially from Damascus.
He talked about he belonged to a faction of the rebel Syrian Nationwide Navy, which is backed by Turkey. Its chief had requested these able to go to Azerbaijan to register. “I voluntarily did that and 90% of my unit signed up,” he knowledgeable CNN by way of WhatsApp. “They knowledgeable us that they might give us $1,500 a month.
“Our contracts are for three months, and every month we will be getting paid by the unit commander,” he talked about, together with that he didn’t know who was funding the operation.
The fighter contacted by CNN talked about volunteers had been gathering throughout the Hawar Kilis house near the Syria-Turkey border awaiting transportation. The crossing is managed by a faction of the Syrian Nationwide Navy.
CNN reached out to the Turkish authorities for a response on whether or not or not it is recruiting Syrian fighters to go to Azerbaijan. The Abroad Ministry talked about they’d been “baseless allegations.”
The Abroad Ministry in Azerbaijan moreover denied Syrian fighters had been on Azeri soil, and spoke of “a really false and slanderous smear advertising and marketing marketing campaign in some abroad media, allegedly in reference to the import of fighters from Syria to Azerbaijan.” It talked about Armenia was behind the allegations.
The fighter contacted by CNN, a father of three, talked about his family was residing beneath the poverty line. He was able to journey to Azerbaijan “because of the money, and the entire world is conscious of that the Syrians residing listed below are dying of hunger.”
To begin with, the particular person thought the volunteers will be involved in guard obligation “nonetheless after the first batch of fighters went to Azerbaijan, we realized it was about stopping similar to the stopping in Syria and Libya.”
“We realized it’s warfare and by no means work for a security agency,” he talked about.
The particular person talked about he had heard that “spherical 1,000 fighters or further” had been signed up. “None of my relations have went throughout the first batch, nonetheless I do know guys who went throughout the first batch,” he knowledgeable CNN. He had moreover heard that some Syrians had been killed in Azerbaijan.
The particular person, who was a carpenter, talked about he wished life to return to common and was solely going to Azerbaijan for the money. “I would like that the warfare will stop in Azerbaijan and Armenia nonetheless the one work is security work and which means I nonetheless can current meals and residing for my children.”
Kareem Khadder reported from Jerusalem and Gul Tuysuz reported from Istanbul. Tim Lister wrote in Cordoba.
