Washington Kurdish Institute
By: Matthiew Margala
October 9, 2020
The use of foreign-fighters to further one’s policy is not something that is new to the 21st century. It has taken place since time immemorial. The Roman Army recruited non-Roman barbarians to fight as mercenaries on behalf of the empire. The British recruited thousands of soldiers from their colonies, such as the famed Gurkhas of Nepal. When the Spanish first arrived in the New World, they relied heavily on allying with local tribes and kingdoms to greatly supplement their much smaller numbers. Turkey is no stranger to this, both historically and in the present-day as well, although in 2020, the issue has risen to far greater prominence than it had in years.
The Turkish government initially recruited dozens of Syrian rebel militias to fight the Kurdish-led alliance, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and the terrorist organization the Islamic State (Da’esh) back in 2016. The primary purpose was so that Turkey could safeguard its interests in Syria while being able to save face both politically and militarily. Using Syrian rebel fighters as the vanguard force meant that most of the troops on the ground that were entering Syrian towns and raising flags above them were Syrians themselves, and not a foreign army. Furthermore, Turkey was able to avoid large-scale Turkish military casualties, as Turkish soldiers themselves worked largely as advisors, coordinated artillery strikes, and conducted smaller, special forces operations.
The strategy was successful enough that Turkey continued to utilize it twice more, conducting Operations Olive Branch and Peace Spring in 2018 and 2019 respectively, both targeting the Kurdish-led SDF, which also served as the primary partner on the ground for the American led anti-Da’esh coalition. This led to the occupation of even more Syrian territory, and a large increase in personnel strength on the part of the so-called “Syrian National Army (SNA) rebel coalition that Turkey has backed.
On top of these operations in Syria, Turkey has constantly been intervening in Iraq, claiming to have the right to under the pretext of fighting Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) “terrorism”. Dozens of military outposts and bases have been established in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, civilians have been killed and displaced by Turkish airstrikes, and recently, two high-ranking officers of Iraq’s border guards were killed in a Turkish Air Force drone strike. There have been Kurdish fears of Turkey potentially using the PKK’s presence as an excuse to eventually fully occupy the Qandil Mountains, and using them as a base for the mercenary units that they back.
Recently, Russia successfully used “Wagner Group” units of Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, and other former Eastern Bloc mercenaries on the ground in Syria, Libya, and the Central African Republic. Perhaps inspired by Russia, President Erdogan of Turkey is doing the same in 2020. For example, the SNA expanded its area of operations to the international setting. In January of 2020, the first 2,000 SNA fighters were sent by Turkey to Libya, to support the embattled Government of National Accord (GNA), the Tripoli-based government of Libya that Turkey has supported against the Tobruk-based House of Representatives and its general, Khalifa Haftar. Russia’s Wagner Group had already been in the country supporting Haftar’s troops in their offensive to take the Libyan capital of Tripoli for months. However, the offensive had stalled in Tripoli’s suburbs due to a large-scale Turkish support in the form of over 10,000 Syrian fighters, as well as precision drone strikes in order to change the tide of the battle and push Haftar’s forces to central Libya.
Despite casualties for the Syrian fighters ramping up higher and higher into the hundreds, and with hundreds reportedly deserting as well due to lack of pay, Turkey once again managed to put a Turkish-controlled fighting force on the ground in a conflict that Turkey desired influence in and successfully use this force to advance the interests of Turkey on the ground.
In the past two weeks, heavy fighting has broken out between Azeri and Armenian forces over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. While it is internationally recognized as Azerbaijan’s territory, it is mostly populated by ethnic Armenians and has been de facto controlled by Armenia since defeating Azerbaijan’s forces in the 1988-1994 conflict over the region. Even though the conflict has occasionally flared up, casualties were always low, and the ceasefire achieved in 1994 was returned to every time. This has not been the case with the current situation. Most evidence points to Azerbaijan initiating a surprise offensive against the disputed territory, likely due to the strong support the country has received from Turkey both politically and militarily. The other major countries involved in the conflict, including France, the US, and Russia, have maintained far more neutral and unwillingness to expressly back either side.
Turkey reportedly has taken command of Azerbaijan’s air operations, and according to the Armenian government, a Turkish F16 fighter jet directly shot down an Armenian SU-25 warplane. Following these events, it did not take long for reports about Turkey sending hundreds of Syrian fighters to aid Azerbaijan’s forces on the battlefield to emerge, both from alleged Syrian fighters and from Armenia, Russia, the US, and the French. Given Turkey’s close ties to Azerbaijan linguistically, culturally, and so on, as well as their historical hostility towards Armenia, and desire to expand influence into the Caucasus, it is unsurprising that Turkey would continue this policy whenever the opportunity presents itself.
The resurfacing of Turkey’s use of foreign fighters to advance its policy in 2020 is part of a new and worrying trend of policy and behavior from the Turkish state that harkens back to the Ottoman Empire. This style of Neo-Ottoman policy that Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has instituted across the board has included a broad embrace of Islamism. For example, Turkey welcomed members of Hamas, a State Department recognized Foreign Terrorist Organization. They have also provided safe haven to the Muslim Brotherhood, officially converting the Hagia Sophia to a mosque, and championing the wider Palestinian Cause as Turkey’s own. Furthermore, Turkey recruited and dispatched Syrian rebel fighters to different conflict zones that Turkey has a vested interest in, with many of these fighters being hard-core Islamists and jihadists. Just as the Ottoman Empire recruited young Christian boys of Balkan origin into their most elite fighting force, the Janissaries, to take part in all of the Ottoman Empire’s major campaigns, Turkey has begun to recruit young Syrian men to do the same for Turkey in 2020.
Matthiew Margala is a reach assistant at the Washington Kurdish Institute.