Unlimited MENA Revolt Thread

[Cain]

Though Turkey tolerates the Chechen refugees, many lack residence permits and live in destitute conditions under a constant risk of deportation, activists say. This life in limbo led many Chechens to acquiesce to blackmail-like pressures to join the Syrian war, according to Abrek Onlu, the slain activist's nephew and member of the Justice for Medet Committee, an advocacy group created by members of Turkey's ethnic Caucasian community.

"Not all Chechens volunteered to go to Syria. Some went there unwillingly. They were presented with two options: to go to Syria or face deportation ... Individuals who were personally the subject [of such pressure] recount confidentially how certain people would come to convey them this message," Abrek Onlu told Al-Monitor, reluctant to give further details.


Another committee member claimed Islamic civic groups in Turkey were active in the recruitment of fighters. "Some Islamic nongovernmental groups became closely involved in dispatching fighters to Syria. ... Those groups are known to have exerted influence on Chechens living both in and outside [refugee] camps to join the war," Kuban Kural told an online journal.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/11/turkey-chechen-murder-syria-link.html