Syria's soldiers of fortune

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2020

⏱️ 27 minutes

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Summary

The bitter war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasian region of Nagorno Karabakh may have come to an end, but the business of fighting may continue for at least some of its combatants. There’s growing evidence that hundreds of soldiers in this war were mercenaries recruited from mostly rebel-held regions in northern Syria - even though that's strongly denied by Azerbaijan. In this week’s Assignment Ed Butler hears testimony from a number of young Syrians, who say they fought in a war which in most cases they didn't realise they were signing up for. Some speak of shame at having to work this way – a symptom of the increasing economic desperation that's affecting the embattled regions of northern Syria where they live.

Produced and presented by Ed Butler.

(Image: Men in the same fatigues as SNA fighters photographed in Azerbaijan stand in front of a border sign written in Armenian, Russian and English. Credit: Telegram channel of Jarablus News)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You know when the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh first broke out in late September,
0:07.7	I was intrigued. I knew the region a little. I visited Azerbaijan once. Then I was struck by these sporadic news
0:16.3	reports that Syrians were among the troops fighting on the front line. Who were
0:21.6	they? Could they be jahaddies, perhaps, fighting some kind of religious
0:25.8	war? There were all kinds of rumors in the media. So I started to investigate. The reality I heard when I spoke to some of these men who said
0:37.2	they'd travelled there was more complicated and in many ways much more tragic than I'd expected.
0:44.0	A couple of months ago this video appeared online. It chose a group of Syrian men
0:59.0	apparently in an Azerbaijani compound. They're clapping, dancing, posing for the camera with V for
1:07.1	victory sides. They're wearing military fatigues. What's your message to the boys back in Syria asks one? You're all welcome here?
1:17.0	And then you're all welcome here another replies come join us it did look like a
1:26.2	good opportunity. They told us a mission would be to serve as centuries on the border as peacekeepers.
1:40.0	They offered 2,000 dollars a month. It felt like a fortune to us.
1:45.0	I'm Ed Butler and in today's edition of assignment I'm going to be hearing for the first time some of the voices of the men who made this mission to Azerbaijan in the Caucasus.
1:55.0	It's a story that's received little attention because it seems there has been an effort to keep it secret.
2:01.0	Through a series of trusted contacts, I've been speaking to four of these men via text or phone
2:06.3	interview.
2:07.3	They've spoken out, it seems, at some considerable risk to their own safety.
2:11.8	They didn't know it, but their supposed mission to work as
2:14.1	border guards was a lie. They were walking straight into the front line of a war and
2:18.8	within weeks hundreds of them would be dead. Heavy fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan has continued for another day in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
2:36.2	It comes as the...
2:37.2	Azari forces continuing their advance in footage released by the authorities here.
	...

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