Daesh fighter Al-Muhammed Al-Kurdi, alias Abu Suhaib, lives in Istanbul, has his own business and, over the border he says he has no bother in crossing, is able go to Syria and return back to Turkey. He was injured in the neck during the Euphrates Shield Operation (Jarabulus operation) and has been back at home in Istanbul of late. Daesh-member Al-Muhammed Al-Kurdi made some astonishing claims to BirGün from his home.
Al-Kurdi, whose phone is always at his side while he is speaking, says that he is in contact via Messenger only with his fellow Daesh members who are currently in Syria. He says in a calm and steady manner that he’ll attend to his business after the interview is over. We start the interview and he has some attention-grabbing things to say.
We withdrew from Jarabulus; There was no resistance
Al-Kurdi says that they withdrew from Jarabulus before the Turkish Armed Forces entered Jarabulus along with the jihadi forces of the FSA and coalition forces, and continues, “Only, this operation, Turkey entering Jarabulus – if you noticed, this was the day when Joe Biden came to Turkey – was a token of its friendship towards America. A token of how they are at their beck and call. Turkey has gotten itself caught up in a huge error here. What error has it fallen into? When Turkey entered Jarabulus, Daesh had already withdrawn without putting up resistance. The main reason that Daesh withdrew was to see to it that the Free Syrian Army would fight the YPG. And this is what happened before the first week was out. When Turkey entered Jarabulus, it also said that it would attack Manbij. And, following the clashes of the first week, the YPG, with America’s support, [there appears to be some missing text] and Turkey, under orders given by America, did not attack Manbij. On the contrary, it said it would move towards Al-Bab. In the days to come, inshallah, there will be a more different, large battle.”
We didn’t want the YPG to get the petrol
By way of reason for withdrawing from Jarabulus, Al-Kurdi adds the following: “Daesh just now is dealing in petrol, whether in Jarabulus or Al-Rai, either with Turkish merchants or there are those that come from Iran. It was being sold to Turkish merchants. We didn’t want to surrender this border to the YPG. Abandoning the border to the FSA or Turkey looked like a better option. Since we knew in advance that Turkey would fight the YPG, it was no big deal to withdraw from there.”
Turkey hushes it up
Al Kurdi, alleging that an exchange of hostages took place with Turkey one year and three months ago, and that such events were frequent occurrences, says that Turkey keeps this hidden from public attention, and continues: “There was a hostage event one year and three months ago. One Turkish non-commissioned officer and one private. At that time, twelve top-level Daesh commanders were exchanged for those Turkish soldiers. That was the deal that was struck. And the media was most certainly told nothing about this. Turkey hushes it up. The priority is exchange. If this is not agreed to, time is given for negotiations, and if the demands are not met within that time period they are killed.”
İlhami Balı was exchanged, too
Al-Kurdi also raises an allegation with regard to İlhami Balı, who was listed as wanted with red status by the Interior Ministry and had given the orders for a number of bomb attacks conducted in Turkey and had facilitated a large number of fighters in crossing from Turkey: “İlhami Balı was exchanged four months ago.” Al-Kurdi elaborates as follows on this astonishing claim: “İlhami Balı, alias Ebu Bekir, was first captured by the opposition four months ago and was released under a big exchange.” I remind Al-Kurdi that İlhami Balı’s phone calls had found their way into the media, and he says to me, “Ebu Bekir has a number, so can you tell me the last two digits of the number then?” No, I say, I’m just saying that the police were monitoring his phone and there are transcripts of conversations. (Al-Kurdi gets the mistaken impression that I had spoken to İlhami Balı on the phone) Al-Kurdi then clams up on İlhami Balı.
You chuck a piece of wood on the barbed wire and cross without bother
Al-Kurdi says that he has gone to Syria and back four times in nine months. To my question that crossing the border must be hard for him so how does he get across so often, initially he just replies, “Very easily.” When I push for a bit more detail, he goes on to add: “Turkey has its vehicles in certain areas and there are places where Turkish soldiers are posted. I won’t say what times we cross over for security reasons. Since they are not in a position to position soldiers for the entire length of the border, at certain times, at times when there are no soldiers, we come and go with ease through mountainous terrain. It’s a piece of cake. You chuck a big piece of wood on top of the barbed wire and you go straight across the border.”
Turkey gave Ahrar al-Sham one thousand Dashkas
Al-Kurdi, asserting that Turkey has also given a great deal of support to the jihadi organization Ahrar al-Sham based in Idlib, said, “Most recently, Turkey gave some pretty neat support to Ahrar al-Sham about a year ago. It gave them one thousand Dashkas (DShK’s).
26.09.2016 by Zeynep Yüncüler
[BirGun]
