Turkey Becomes ‘Magnet for Thousands of Religious Fanatics and Murderers’

Ankara’s aggressive policies toward Syria have destroyed the lives of some of its own citizens, who after being indoctrinated by radicals, have decided to take up arms and join jihadists in another country, film director Mustafa Kenan Aybasti told Sputnik when describing his new movie.

The new Turkish drama Yolculuk ("The Journey") shows the life of a young Turkish man who becomes indoctrinated with the ideas of jihad and travels to Syria to fight against its government will be released on April 22.



The drama tells the role of the Turkish government and its aggressive policies, as well as the complex system of recruiters and radical Salafi preachers that all cause Mehmet, the confused young man, to make a decision to join the ranks of a terrorist organization in another country, Aybasti said.



According to the film director, the movie shows how the Turkish government's attempts to add fuel to the fire in neighboring Syria by supporting terrorist organizations eventually backfired against Ankara.

"Turkey became plunged in a bloody war and is regularly shaken by terrorist attacks. It isn't surprising since the country became a magnet for thousands of religious fanatics and murderers," Aybasti told Sputnik.

Aybasti said young men who're considering about going to the Middle East to join jihad should definitely watch his movie because it shows the harsh realities of jihadist organizations, their recruitment tricks and brainwashing methods.

Beran Soysal, the actor who played Mehmet, said that deep down the main character didn't really want to join terrorists in Syria. While searching for the meaning of life and being under the constant influence of his despotic father and conservative relatives, Mehmet becomes involved with members of a Sharia organization and begins to attend their meetings.

"In my opinion, a man who hasn't completely lost humanity, the ability to feel and think cannot become a jihadist… Radical religious doctrines influenced his life, every time he [Mehmet] tried to make an independent decision he felt incredible pressure," Soysal told Sputnik, adding that often young, disoriented men, like Mehmet, lose their path and fall into the hands of religious fundamentalists.


Syria has been in the state of civil war since 2011. Many insurgent groups, such as Daesh and the Nusra Front, are active in the country. The Turkish border is known to be widely used by would-be militants to cross into Syria. Ankara has claimed that it tries to keep foreigners away from the border but that it is unable to fully cope with the influx of aspiring jihadists.
In April 2014, Syria's Foreign Ministry accused the Turkish government of providing direct logistical and military support to terrorist groups operating in the north of the country.