Jihad debate: the Dutch fighter and the British aid worker
This is really fascinating and important stuff. A debate between Dutch foreign fighter in Syria, Yilmaz, and British aid worker in Syria Tauqir Sharif at Channel 4.
Tauqir Sharif, a 27-year-old originally from Nottingham, is an aid worker and activist – but not a fighter. He drives an ambulance in Aleppo and has set up an orphanage with his wife.
He told Channel 4 News: “I’m a grown man at the end of the day. Many of the people who came here are grown men. We came here to help people who are oppressed. To try and say that people are coming here and instead of helping oppressed people are going to start killing them – it’s a lot of scaremongering to be honest.
“To be honest, I feel this rhetoric needs to be changed. Even when you guys introduced me, you said he’s in jihadi-controlled areas. There’s the Free Syrian Army here. There’s so many various different groups and if we’re going to turn around and say everyone’s being radicalised…”
Yilmaz stated:
“The goal at the moment for me and for many of the fighters and groups that are around me, is still always getting rid of this tyrant al Assad, first and foremost.
“As soon as he’s gone we can establish Islamic courts and bring those who’ve committed any kinds of war crimes to justice. So the most important thing for me and the fighters in this region is to overthrow Assad.”
‘Lone wolf’
When asked if he was considering joining up with Isis fighters who have declared an Islamic caliphate “from Aleppo to Diyala” he said: “Basically, for me as a trainer, as a lone wolf, I need to investigate this whole Isis situation.
Watch it here:
Read all about it at Channel4 (the text above is taken from their page).
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