Rampant unemployment and widespread poverty in northwest Syria are pushing young Syrians to enlist in Turkish private military firms which are deploying them as far as Niger in West Africa, where they could be used to carry out missions including reportedly protecting Turkish commercial interests.
While in the past, Syrians have been recruited as mercenaries and reportedly sent to Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, today fighters are receiving basic training in Turkey before being flown to Niger, where they are again being deployed in conflicts that have nothing to do with them. Â
There are various reasons Syrians are opting into travelling to Niger – many see it as one of their few options to earn a decent wage, while some also believe it will be easy work and presents an escape route from the dire conditions in northern Syria.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), over 1,000 Syrian fighters have been transported to Niger over the last several months.
Promises of renewable contracts and monthly salaries reaching $1,500 are enticing young Syrian men in a context in which $200 per month is currently regarded as an extremely high salary in Syria. Their transfer is being arranged through private Turkish security companies, allegedly including SADAT International Defense Consultancy – a private Turkish security firm, though the latter has vehemently denied these claims.
Ali Farwati, a former recruit, said to The New Arab’s that he was led to believe he’d be working as a guard for mining firms or government sites in Niger.
“However, I was shocked when we were taken to a remote area that looked like a battlefield. We didn’t know the language, nor the nature of the region, and the reality was totally different to what I’d thought.”
He says he found himself “besieged” in an unfamiliar environment, adding: “We were in a hopeless situation. The war in Syria took a huge toll on us – there was no choice but to accept. After we reached Niger, we realised we were simply tools. We signed a six-month recruitment contract with [a Turkish] defence consultancy company, which promised us high wages.”
However, he says, even this wasn’t true, “as half of our wages were going to the bosses who had prearranged deals […] that they’d get commission deducted from our wages. I felt I’d been deceived when I saw how our lives were being sold to benefit others.”
Mohammed Shama’a, says he was recruited over a year ago by a Turkish company that offered a monthly wage of $1,200 and said he’d be working as a guard for a civilian building in Niger.
However, upon arriving in Niger, Shama’a, who was initially a member of the Sultan Suleiman Shah faction, (a prominent Turkey-backed faction in northern Aleppo also known as al-Amshat) was immediately taken to a remote and isolated military site. He has since been taken to work on various other sites and hasn’t yet found a way to return to Syria.
“Life here is tough. The weather is unbearable, and the work isn’t what they described – we’re basically guards of sites that are vulnerable to attack at any time. Until now I’ve only received half the salary I was promised, and the situation worsens daily.”
He goes silent, then continues: “I wish I’d chosen to stay in my country no matter how hard the situation – I’ve been tricked, and found myself involved in a war I’ve nothing to do with.”
Many families of those recruited to work in Niger have struggled to obtain news of their absent children, with limited success.
Amal Samahi lives in a state of despair and fear since losing contact with her only son who went to Niger as a recruit almost four months ago – she’s had no news of him since then and doesn’t know if he is even alive.
He went “to secure us a better life and because he couldn’t find work here. However, he hasn’t made any money, and when I spoke to him on the phone, he said he wanted to return but didn’t know how.”
She went to see an al-Amshat official (the faction was responsible for recruiting her son), who told her that many of the fighters recruited had been killed in ambushes, without confirming whether her son was among them. She fears she may never discover her son’s fate, in a country she knows nothing about except its name.
The huge gulf between the promises used by these companies to lure Syrian recruits, and what they end up experiencing in Niger, is leaving many of those involved with difficulties readjusting to life on their return.
Ayham Rabee’s brother was recruited to work in Niger, an experience which has left him scarred.
“My brother came back from Niger after six months but isn’t the same person. He’s constantly nervous and wakes up terrified at night. He said they experienced attacks, and he saw his colleagues killed in front of him, but isn’t able to talk much about the horrors he was exposed to as he’s scared of retaliation by those who recruited him.”
Human rights activist Luay Khatib says Turkey is using Syrian mercenaries in Africa to promote its diplomatic and economic interests there, but that taking these young people to Niger in these circumstances violates the 1989 UN Convention on the use of mercenaries.
Moreover, the legal responsibility for this doesn’t just lie with the security firms, but also with the states turning a blind eye to these companies.
Turkey has previously denied claims of deploying mercenaries to Libya, neighbouring Niger, or Nagorno-Karabakh.
He stressed the need for light to be shed on this important issue and for urgent action taken to end the exploitation of Syrians being used to promote the political and economic agendas of others at the expense of their own lives and futures.
He believes awareness-raising campaigns need to be directed at young Syrians to educate them on the potentially catastrophic risks to themselves and their families from becoming involved in these operations.
For his part, sociologist Hamed Sabbagh warned of the impact on wider society which the phenomenon of recruitment, which encourages mass emigration, would have on local communities which would find themselves depleted of their young people. Moreover, returning recruits who displayed signs of psychological trauma could in turn lead to a spread of domestic and other types of violence in society. Â
He emphasised the need for psychological support programmes for returning recruits, including therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in particular, as “many individuals suffer from nightmares, constant anxiety, and a sense of helplessness due to exposure to violent situations, as well as social isolation due to feelings of shame or having been betrayed.”
He adds that recruits also often have difficulties reintegrating into their communities, which can lead to depression and even suicide.
He also believes work opportunities need to be created for Syrians which will allow them to avoid enlisting as mercenaries in these circumstances, through establishing development projects which could save young people from signing up for these types of work.
Hadia Al Mansour is a freelance journalist from Syria who has written for Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Monitor, SyriaUntold and Rising for Freedom Magazine
Article translated from Arabic by Rose Chacko
