A 14-year-old Turkish child who joined Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants was found in a serious condition at the Akçakale border gate with Syria, daily Milliyet has reported.
It was revealed that the young teenager, identified as Taylan Ö.Y., left his home in Ankara for Syria with five other friends, some 45 days before being delivered to Turkish soldiers at the border gate in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa.
He was immediately rushed to the district hospital on June 22, where he underwent an eight-hour operation.
Crosses border for 20 Liras
According to daily Milliyet’s report, Taylan dropped out from school and was working as a garlic vendor in the streets of Ankara, like many members of his family.
Along with his five friends, he paid 20 Turkish Liras (9 U.S. dollars) to smugglers in the southeastern Kilis province to cross the border into the Syrian region controlled by ISIL militants. His friends then returned to Turkey after they were brought to Raqqa, but Taylan was taken into intensive training by the militants. He reportedly said they received military training and Quran lessons in the morning, while they played sports in the afternoons. He had also contacted his father, telling him that he did not intend to return to Turkey.
Taylan was then taken to the fighting grounds, where he was heavily injured after being hit by shrapnel. Due to his life-threatening condition Taylan was brought back to the Turkish border. The people delivering him to the soldiers had identified him as Syrian citizen Mehmed al-Ahmad, born in 1998.
The police only learned Taylan’s real identity after his father came to the hospital a day after the surgery, after being contacted by his son.
The father said the police even brought translators in order to interrogate the young teenager when he arrived at the hospital, adding that Taylan had been afraid to speak until he arrived. Taylan’s condition is reportedly improving, doctors have said.
Reports claiming that around 3,000 Turkish citizens, mainly from Istanbul’s suburbs, have joined ISIL militias have been rejected by the Turkish government.
June/26/2014