The statements of a militia officer who was arrested in Afrin after getting injured in a battle with YPG/YPJ point once again to the real goal of the Turkish military invasion. As Ebdo Ehmed Îsmail explains to ANF, the Turkish state has promised its group that taking Afrin will enable the area between Jarabluz, Azaz and Bab to be linked to Idlib and eventually awarded to Turkey.

Eighteen-year-old Ebdo Ehmed Îsmail comes from the village of Latamnê in Hama. According to him, his father sent him to his grandfather in Idlib so as not to be recruited as a soldier by the Syrian army. In Idlib, he joined the Jaysh-ul Ezê group through his cousins. The group is fighting against the Syrian regime in the south of Idlib. After four months, he went to Shehba a year ago, where he joined the group El Nuxbe founded by the Turkish state.

This group was fully maintained by Turkey, said Îsmail. All members would receive a monthly salary of 45,000 Syrian Lira, about $ 100. When the Turkish state brought the region between Jarablus, Bab and Azaz under its control, the Islamic State was no longer there. He himself was sent from there to fight for the first time to Afrin.

The El Nuxbe group is made up of militia nationals from different parts of Syria who have been recruited by the Turkish state, according to Îsmail, who tells that: "There were people from Hama, Aleppo, Idlib, Homs and other places. We had a very good relationship with the Turks. We had meetings in the village of Hawar Kilis. They gave us everything we asked for. They also came to us from their own bases to inspect our bases."

When the salary was due, Ebû Amma, one of the chiefs, went to Turkey and paid off the money after his return, Îsmail tells. When the military invasion against Afrin began, he did not want to take part in it: "I have different sized feet and said that I could not fight like that. But our bosses said that I had to go, that the time had come for me to marry and it would be to my advantage. By that they meant the plundering of the captured areas."

They were then taken from their base at Bab to the village of Hawar Kilis, tells İsmail and continues. "They said they were going to take us to the front lines in Jindires, but they did not. I did not know where we were going. It was about 8:00 pm. At night we climbed a mountain and at about 4 o'clock we entered a village. I do not know where it was. Then clashes broke out and I got injured in my hand. When I came to myself, I could not see anyone. Then two people from YPG came and took me to the hospital."

İsmail says he was treated at the hospital and his hand was rescued, adding that he was not mistreated.

"What did the Turkish state promise you when it sent you into this war? Or what did your commanders tell you about the war? "we ask Ebdo Ehmed Îsmail. He replies: "The Turkish state said we had to open a path from here to Darat Izza. With the capture of Afrin we could connect the area between Jarablus, Azaz and Bab with Idlib, they said. The entire area would then be under our control and would be left to Turkey in the future."

We ask, "Have you been promised that you can found a state here?" The militia officer's answer is, "The entire area here will ultimately belong to the Turkish state."