NEW YORK
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Turkey is one of the biggest sources of recruits for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants, the New York Times reported Sept. 16.
Having spent most of his youth as a drug addict in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Turkey’s capital, Ankara, Can did not think he had much to lose when he was smuggled into Syria with 10 of his childhood friends to join the world’s most extreme jihadist group.
After 15 days at a training camp in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto headquarters of ISIL, 27-year-old Can was assigned to a fighting unit. He said he shot two men and participated in a public execution. It was only after he buried a man alive that he was told he had become a full ISIL fighter.
“When you fight over there, it’s like being in a trance,” said Can, who asked to be referred to only by his middle name for fear of reprisal. “Everyone shouts, ‘God is great,’ which gives you divine strength to kill the enemy without being fazed by blood or splattered guts,” he said.