By Taysir Muhammad
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – Nasrat Ali, who lost three of his sons in battles took place in Libya, is unable to hide his severe pain of losing them after Turkey allegedly recruited them like many militants of the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, aka the Syrian National Army (SNA), in turn for money and protection.
Two years ago, Ali’s sons: Ammar, Salah and Jarkas joined the fight in Libya for Turkey. The three sons were militants of the Turkish-backed Sultan Suleiman Shah faction (al-Amshat), and they have not returned home [Syria] since then.
What is most disturbing for Ali is that he has not received the bodies of his sons or even the financial compensation Turkey promised.
Ali is from the city of Azaz, northern Aleppo, northwest Syria, that falls under the control of Turkey and the SNA factions.
“Like so many young Syrians, neither my sons returned nor their bodies, and whenever I ask about them, al-Amshat faction evades the answer, alleging that the Turkish army is the one responsible for such issues,” the father said.
Ali, who has kept asking militants managed to return from Libya about his three sons, realized that they “were killed and buried in Libya without informing us.”
With a sigh, the father said, “What hurts most is that they were not buried in Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan exploited Syrians, tempted them with money, and promised to treat them as an auxiliary fighting force, granting them facilities inside Turkey.”
He went further adding that all the promises made by Turkey regarding salaries, insurances, and the Turkish citizenship were mere words, “and the only beneficiaries are the Turkish president and some SNA leaders.”
“My sons died and I was not able to see them, moreover, their families have not been compensated,” Ali said.
Under “mercenary” contracts in turn for a monthly salary of between $1,500 and $2,000, about 8,000 SNA militants were recruited between 2021 and 2022 to join the fight in Libya for Turkey, however, the salaries, according to an official in the defense ministry of the SNA’s Interim Government, downed to $800.
The official told North Press, “Complaints our offices in Afrin, Azaz, Jarablus, and Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) received through email have showed that the number of the fighters who went missing in Libya has exceeded 235 without any clarification about their fate from the Turkish party.”
Meanwhile, some SNA leaders claimed that these names are for “fighters escaped towards Europe, but their families denied and stressed that they have not received any letters from their sons, calling for disclosing their fate.”
He stressed that the Turkish authorities have to provide the missing’s families with the necessary clarification whether their sons were killed or taken as captives, “and they have to be compensated according to the recruiting contracts they signed before joining the fight in Libya.”
Turkey, occasionally, returns some bodies of the SNA militants to Syria.
On October 14, Turkey sent the bodies of four militants of the SNA, who were killed in Libya to the city of Sere Kaniye, northeastern Syria.
A leader within the Hamza Division, a faction affiliated with the SNA in the city of Afrin, said that names of hundreds of Syrians, who fought in Libya under the Turkish army’s flag, had not been enrolled in the lists of the SNA to join the fight in Libya.
Turkey, since 2020, has recruited thousands of Syrian mercenaries of the SNA to battle along Government of National Accord against Libyan National Army under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
Turkey always refuses to return the SNA militants to their country though they keep demanding they are returned home in light of their low salaries and bad treatment by commanders.
The official told North Press, “The name lists received by the Turkish party do not include the full names of the fighters, aiming to evade the compensations agreed upon according to the contracts between these fighters and Turkey with the mediation of the authorized factions.”
Since 2020, the Hamza Division, for example, “has sent about 2,800 militants to Libya in return for a monthly $1,500 for each fighter, a $5,000 injury benefit given to injured ones returning home, and an amount of $10,000 granted to families of those killed in Libya.”
“The big amounts lured militants, who wanted money, thinking they would improve their families’ living,” he added.
Since 2020, 55 bodies of Hamza Division militants were sent to Syria out of 90, without granting them any compensations, given the fact that most of them had not been paid while fighting in Libya, according to the source.
As for Muhammad Othman, a pseudonym for a militant within the ranks of the Turkish-backed Samar Qand faction, told North Press, describing his sufferings when travelling to Libya and returning home, “Returning to home also needs money and mediations.”
Othman said, “All promises made before joining the fight in Libya collapse when you get on the plane, and the journey of being a mercenary, whom nobody cares about, starts.”
Othman got wounded in the war in Libya, and he, with dozens other Syrian militants, were left in a field hospital in the Libyan city of Tripoli.
In order for Othman to be able to return to Syria, he gave up all his payments in favor of the leader of his faction, Abo Raad al-Diri.
Othman stressed, “I had not received any injury benefits, or my due salaries over the 16 months I spent in Libya.”
He added that over 72 militants of the Samar Qand faction have gone missing in Libya. The Turkish authorities allege that they do not know about them and deny that they have been enrolled for the fight in Libya.
Yet, the Samar Qand’s leadership claims being deceived and that they have got no responses from the Turkish authorities.