Having occupied Northern Syria under the guise of “fighting ISIS”, the Turkish state’s plans over the region that they want to implement through ISIS is more and more exposed every day with the confessions made by ISIS members captured in Baghouz by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). ISIS members captured by the SDF are confessing how they crossed into Syria from Turkey, the support they received from Turkish intelligence and their trade relationship with Turkey.

When asked how he crossed into Syria, Abu Ismail Tajiki, an ISIS member from Tajikistan captured in Baghouz, Deir ez-Zor, responded with a clear Turkish that “Turkish intelligence knows everything.” When asked his name, he asks back: “My real name, or my name in the Dawla [what ISIS calls itself]?”

TURKISH INTELLIGENCE KNOWS EVERYTHING

The gang member whose ISIS name is Abu Ismail Tajiki and real name is Ibrahim Fethullah said he lived in Istanbul for one year before crossing into Syria 4 years ago. The ISIS member went to Antep first, and from there he crossed into Jarablus. When asked who took him there, he said: “Turkish intelligence knows all this. The gendarmerie would look the other way when we crossed the border. We crossed normally, with our backpacks. The gendarmerie was right there just looking.”

HOW COULD THE TURKISH STATE NOT KNOW?

The ISIS member said he was interrogated by intelligence services as they waited to cross in Antep. He was released immediately after. He said Turkey knows everything. ISIS member Abu Ismail Tajiki said: “Turkey is a state. For example, when I was in Antep, one day somebody in an intelligence service vehicle came to me and asked me what I was doing. I said I was waiting for someone. How could they not know us?”

When asked if he was ever suspicious of how helpful the soldiers were as they crossed the border, the ISIS member said: “Now I do, obviously. But I was young then, I didn’t understand.”

“ALL GOODS WERE TURKISH BRANDS”

The gang member was asked about the relationship between Turkey and ISIS, and he spoke about the trade between Turkey and ISIS territory: “Looking at what the men who called me here say, there was no relationship. But I think there was. Turkey says they fight the Dawla. Right, dear, you fight the Dawla but the food in Dawla territory, the supplies and everything was coming from Turkey. Not Afghanistan, not the US. All goods were Turkish brands, coming in from Turkey.”

EVERYTHING WAS GREAT WHEN WE HAD A BORDER WITH TURKEY

ISIS member Abu Ismail Tajiki spoke of the time ISIS controlled the area at the Turkish border and said they were able to carry out trade easily along the border: “Everything was great when we had a border with Turkey. Telephones, internet, it would all come from Turkey. You know Al Rai, at the border? That place worked really well. Everything was great.”