The life of the jihadist Recep Özacar from the village of Golani (Önevler) in Adiyaman ended in Afrin. He was declared a "martyr" and yesterday his body was brought back to his homeland. ANHA news agency has researched and presented photos and documents that prove Özacar’s connections.

Recep Özacar came to Syria for the first time as a militia officer of the far-right Turkmen front, which is intensively supported by the Turkish state. He fought in the unit of the Turkish fascist Alparslan Çelik, which is responsible for the murder of a downed Russian pilot. At that time, most of the Turkish right-wing extremists who had fought with Özacar on the Turkmen front returned to Turkey. Among the group that murdered the Russian pilot, there is another important name besides Çelik. Fatih Kaya, the leader of the "Special Forces of the People" (HÖH), which was came to the agenda after the coup attempt in Turkey on 15 July. The HÖH are a 7,000-strong armed AKP citizen militia, which officially dissolved in early February 2018. They were involved in the lynching and beheading of alleged coup plotters. Özacar was also one of the HÖH members. Fatih Kaya appeared several times with the Turkish regime chief Erdoğan and had said in an interview, to have served ten years in the Turkish army.

Fatih Kaya has called Özacar as his "brother in arms" and shared images on the social media after his death. An important detail is striking, he writes: "Only yesterday I heard your beautiful, laughing voice in a minute-long conversation." Following the link to Kaya's account with Özacar, one discovers further important information: Özacar is called "mujahid" in jihad in Idlib.

Nationalist in the Turkmen Front and Jihadist in Idlib

From Özacar's posts on the social media, it is clear that he joined the Syrian al-Qaida faction al-Nusra. Al-Nusra has been officially designated as terrorist by Turkey, but is working openly with the Turkish army in Idlib. The profile shows that the AKP/MHP supporter Özacar acted simultaneously as a jihadist and right-wing extremist. Among his last postings are recordings in which he makes the fascist "wolf salute" in Turkish army uniforms with a Turkish flag and others, while he raises his hand for a jihadist salute in Idlib with a long beard.

From al-Nusra to Afrin

Özacar stayed with al-Nusra in Idlib for a long time. On March 11, he posts that he is impatient to join the fight in Afrin. On March 30, he died in Afrin.

Related parties comment on his death as follows: "Recep Özacar, from the village of Gerger Golani, has become a martyr of the holy war in the ranks of the FSA in Afrin." The chairman of the HÖH, Fatih Kaya, declared Özacar also a martyr. Also, MHP politician Evren Kaya, an international boxing and football manager, shares a video with Özacar and other jihadists one month ago, stating, "My dear comrade, Mujahid Recep Özacar fought at Turkmen Mountain and is now engaged in a major fight Idlib. On the way of Turans. You fight for the sublime Turkish nation, with God's permission, let's help this hero, everyone should do what he can, at any cost! Write me or Recep Özacar private messages, you can then deposit on his account number. There is no me or you, only us. We are a big family, together we are the sublime Turkish nation! "