FOCUS - Video: Turkey ‘turns blind eye’ to border-crossing jihadists
- 10 years ago
It’s a scene Turkish activist Sehbal Senyurt has grown accustomed to witnessing.
In small groups, would-be jihadists walk across the barren border between Turkey and Syria, in full view of bystanders, TV crews and Turkish border patrols – who do nothing to stop them.
On the Syrian side of the border, Kurdish fighters open fire on the trespassers, cheered on by onlookers gathered on a hilltop inside Turkey.
Within seconds, Islamic State (IS) militants return fire and their new recruits are safely through, ready to join the battle for the Kurdish stronghold of Kobane.
Since the start of the siege a month ago, Senyurt has kept watch along the border, monitoring areas known to be regularly crossed by militants en route to Syria.
“We want the Islamic State (IS) fighters to give up on using the border crossings,” says the human rights activist from Diyarbakir, in southeastern Turkey. “We demonstrate and we make noise. We keep a constant watch.”
Senyurt and her fellow volunteers from across Turkey brave the threat of retaliation to try and stop the flow of jihadist fighters.
She says she has witnessed an increase in the number of vehicles crossing the border since the start of the battle for Kobane, especially at night.
“Vehicles of all kinds come and go, whereas normally there is very little traffic along this stretch of the border,” she says.
Pick-up trucks and armed men are also clearly visible during the day, just a stone's throw from the Turkish border.
As a result of decades fighting Kurdish separatists of the PKK, Turkey’s 900-kilometre border has long been heavily guarded.
And yet Turkey has been accused of turning a blind eye to the flow of jihadists, so long as t... Go on reading on our web site.
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In small groups, would-be jihadists walk across the barren border between Turkey and Syria, in full view of bystanders, TV crews and Turkish border patrols – who do nothing to stop them.
On the Syrian side of the border, Kurdish fighters open fire on the trespassers, cheered on by onlookers gathered on a hilltop inside Turkey.
Within seconds, Islamic State (IS) militants return fire and their new recruits are safely through, ready to join the battle for the Kurdish stronghold of Kobane.
Since the start of the siege a month ago, Senyurt has kept watch along the border, monitoring areas known to be regularly crossed by militants en route to Syria.
“We want the Islamic State (IS) fighters to give up on using the border crossings,” says the human rights activist from Diyarbakir, in southeastern Turkey. “We demonstrate and we make noise. We keep a constant watch.”
Senyurt and her fellow volunteers from across Turkey brave the threat of retaliation to try and stop the flow of jihadist fighters.
She says she has witnessed an increase in the number of vehicles crossing the border since the start of the battle for Kobane, especially at night.
“Vehicles of all kinds come and go, whereas normally there is very little traffic along this stretch of the border,” she says.
Pick-up trucks and armed men are also clearly visible during the day, just a stone's throw from the Turkish border.
As a result of decades fighting Kurdish separatists of the PKK, Turkey’s 900-kilometre border has long been heavily guarded.
And yet Turkey has been accused of turning a blind eye to the flow of jihadists, so long as t... Go on reading on our web site.
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en