The documentary below features footage of and interviews with a young “Dutch” man who traveled to Syria to join the jihad against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Many thanks to SimonXML for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Transcript:
| 00:00 | We now switch from sport to an interview with Yilmaz. | |
| 00:04 | NOS News Hour has been able for the first time to interview in depth and film a Dutch Jihadist. | |
| 00:11 | Yilmaz an ex-professional soldier who is fighting in Syria himself and training other Jihad fighters. | |
| 00:18 | In Syria there are estimated to be 120 Dutch fighters who are fighting against the Assad regime | |
| 00:21 | and for an Islamic state. There is little known | |
| 00:24 | about them. The left in secret and later on their return | |
| 00:27 | rarely say anything. | |
| 00:30 | This is a name tape that he wore in the Dutch Army | |
| 00:33 | which he gave to us as a present. | |
| 00:36 | News Hour foreign news editor Roozbeh Kaboly discovered | |
| 00:39 | Yilmaz about 8 months ago. | |
| 00:42 | when he was looking for signs of Dutch Jihadis. | |
| 00:45 | I searched for a number of Arabic terms | |
| 00:48 | and stumbled across | |
| 00:51 | one of his photos. | |
| 00:54 | He was standing there in Syria wearing his Dutch uniform | |
| 00:57 | next to a pair of rebels. He looks | |
| 01:00 | almost like a commando. | |
| 01:03 | Dutch uniform … beret … a young man | |
| 01:06 | who looks very disciplined and well trained | |
| 01:09 | Was it difficult to gain his confidence? No, no, in the beginning | |
| 01:12 | he was very suspicious, reserved, | |
| 01:15 | he even denied that he was Dutch | |
| 01:18 | but I made it clear that we are objective journalists | |
| 01:21 | who want to understand him and people like him better | |
| 01:24 | and slowly he was able to start trusting me. | |
| 01:27 | How long did that take? 8 months. | |
| 01:30 | I talked to him every day. | |
| 01:36 | This is the first time ever that a Dutch jihad fighter | |
| 01:39 | has allowed himself to filmed in Syria. | |
| 01:42 | How are things going? The interview was conducted in English by a contact | |
| 01:45 | in Syria. I would very much like to | |
| 01:48 | you to be able to see me too, but we have a Syrian connection here. | |
| 01:51 | So it doesn’t work! … | |
| 01:54 | Syria is not a safe place for journalists at the moment. | |
| 01:57 | Journalists are targets for groups of extremist fighters. | |
| 02:00 | They are taken hostage, executed on the spot, | |
| 02:03 | We therefore had the interview | |
| 02:06 | carried out by an intermediary | |
| 02:09 | who put our questions to him. Why did he give the interview? | |
| 02:12 | He wanted to | |
| 02:15 | rectify the image that has been created in the Netherlands of | |
| 02:18 | Dutch fighters in Syria … that they are dangerous maniacs, | |
| 02:21 | and that they are all associated with al-Qaeda. | |
| 02:24 | That’s why he did it. | |
| 02:27 | There’s a Dutch saying: | |
| 02:30 | that says ‘look further than the end of your nose’. | |
| 02:34 | What is means is, | |
| 02:37 | Look a little bit further | |
| 02:40 | than what people show you, or what people try | |
| 02:43 | to show you. Try to investigate for yourself. | |
| 02:46 | Open your heart, open your eyes to what’s going on over here. | |
| 02:49 | And insh’allah maybe you | |
| 02:52 | will change your mind and see that many, many, many of the | |
| 02:55 | people here came here for the right reasons. | |
| 02:58 | You can’t just be watching our people | |
| 03:01 | hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people | |
| 03:04 | getting slaughtered. And you’re just | |
| 03:07 | it’s … | |
| 03:10 | I feel sorry for the people back home. That’s my honest opinion. | |
| 03:13 | How can you be sitting at home? | |
| 03:16 | Yilmaz seems like a normal | |
| 03:19 | young man. A Dutch man with Turkish origins who | |
| 03:22 | would rather have become a Commando. He did his military service | |
| 03:25 | in Turkey and after that was a professional soldier in the Dutch | |
| 03:28 | Army. But Syria was a magnet | |
| 03:31 | He decided to put his knowledge as a soldier into practice there. | |
| 03:34 | This report is by Jan Eikelboom and Roozbeh Kaboly | |
| 03:37 | In Syria he wears | |
| 03:40 | his Dutch Army uniform, including beret. | |
| 03:43 | Only the badge has been replaced. | |
| 03:46 | Yilmaz was a professional soldier in the Dutch Army, | |
| 03:49 | In the Dutch Army I was a Private, First Class | |
| 03:52 | Private, First Class. | |
| 03:55 | Maybe a month or 2 months before | |
| 03:58 | I was being promoted | |
| 04:01 | I decided to leave. | |
| 04:04 | Right knee. You can either sit or | |
| 04:07 | on your knee or hold it up like this, is no problem, | |
| 04:10 | Your elbow is resting on your knee | |
| 04:13 | on your left knee, your left elbow is resting on your | |
| 04:16 | left knee, your right knee is on the floor | |
| 04:19 | If you want a little bit more support you could turn your leg in. | |
| 04:22 | He uses his knowledge from the Dutch | |
| 04:25 | Army to train Jihadis in Syria. | |
| 04:28 | He organises shooting practice. | |
| 04:43 | Relax. Most of the people here | |
| 04:47 | I think maybe over 90% of the people here | |
| 04:50 | have never ever even fired a bullet in their lives. | |
| 04:53 | Let alone participate in an actual battle. | |
| 04:56 | whatsoever. So, | |
| 04:59 | what we’re doing right now, and the purpose of all this is | |
| 05:02 | I was approached by a brother | |
| 05:05 | that I love and I respect, and because he knows my background he | |
| 05:08 | asked me “could you give some of my fighters some | |
| 05:11 | some extra tips and tools? | |
| 05:14 | We will supply the bullets, we’ll supply everything you need | |
| 05:17 | so that when we ship them out | |
| 05:20 | and when there’s a fire-fight and when there’s contact | |
| 05:23 | they know what they’re doing.” | |
| 05:26 | OK, one, two, three, four, yeah | |
| 05:29 | I could see all of the hits. | |
| 05:32 | I told you it was five. Five, yeah. | |
| 05:35 | I knew it, yeah, it was five. | |
| 05:38 | Look, your gun | |
| 05:41 | is moving too much | |
| 05:44 | to the left and right. | |
| 05:47 | He was too fast; he wasn’t | |
| 05:50 | taking his time. Relax. You’ll see that if you | |
| 05:53 | if you relax, if you take your time … maybe a second or two | |
| 05:56 | seconds longer, you’ll be in this area. | |
| 05:59 | The purpose behind it is | |
| 06:02 | first and foremost the question you should ask is | |
| 06:05 | ”what is their purpose being here? | |
| 06:08 | and their purpose being here is fighting | |
| 06:11 | for the oppressed Syrian | |
| 06:14 | people. It’s been two and a half, almost three years | |
| 06:17 | now, and nobody’s doing anything. | |
| 06:20 | These people came here with a noble cause | |
| 06:23 | a purpose of helping | |
| 06:26 | the Syrian people. If what they’re doing | |
| 06:29 | is something good and something noble, why | |
| 06:32 | do they have their faces covered? These brothers cover their faces | |
| 06:35 | purely for | |
| 06:38 | security reasons. They would love to show their faces | |
| 06:41 | they would love to show their faces and tell the world why they | |
| 06:44 | are here and what they are doing, but if they were it would have huge | |
| 06:47 | huge huge consequences back home. | |
| 06:50 | For example, myself; the police have been to my house a couple of times | |
| 06:53 | when they want to travel they | |
| 06:56 | get questioned. My sisters at school | |
| 06:59 | they, people say “oh, your brother’s this, your brother’s that” | |
| 07:02 | these people, they don’t want to look scary they | |
| 07:06 | don’t want to terrorise people, whatever. The only reason why they’re covering their | |
| 07:09 | faces is because they love their families back home and | |
| 07:12 | they want them to live their lives in peace, | |
| 07:15 | and they don’t want any negative consequences | |
| 07:18 | upon the family of them being here. | |
| 07:24 | Fire! | |
| 07:36 | Hold fire! Hold fire! | |
| 07:42 | My gun jammed. No problem. | |
| 07:45 | People back in Holland | |
| 07:48 | might say, some of them might say | |
| 07:51 | you betrayed us because you | |
| 07:54 | learned these skills from us and now you | |
| 07:57 | are teaching these people. If someone were to say | |
| 08:00 | something like that, what would you, how would you respond to them? | |
| 08:03 | If the Dutch forces | |
| 08:06 | would send a | |
| 08:09 | a unit or | |
| 08:12 | fighters to Syria to help the oppressed | |
| 08:15 | people, I would be the first one to sign up for the Dutch Army. | |
| 08:18 | But nobody’s doing anything, so why when people | |
| 08:21 | want to do something to help these people | |
| 08:24 | and to make a change, | |
| 08:27 | is it a problem? Or am I a traitor? I mean, | |
| 08:30 | that makes no sense to me. | |
| 08:33 | Do you have any | |
| 08:36 | inclinations towards | |
| 08:39 | doing any sorts of attacks | |
| 08:42 | inside of Holland? No. | |
| 08:45 | I never, no, no, I can’t | |
| 08:48 | to Syria | |
| 08:51 | for Syria only. I didn’t come to Syria to learn how to | |
| 08:54 | make bombs, or this, and to go back | |
| 08:57 | that’s not the mentality many of these fighters | |
| 09:00 | have. We came here | |
| 09:03 | basically, and I know it sounds harsh but many of the brothers here including me | |
| 09:06 | we came here to die | |
| 09:09 | so us going back is not part of | |
| 09:12 | of our perspective here. I mean, it’s a | |
| 09:15 | big sacrifice; there’s a lot of work to be done | |
| 09:18 | so why should I even think about Holland or Europe | |
| 09:21 | It’s a closed chapter for me. | |
| 09:24 | How are things? Yilmaz hasn’t cut all his ties with | |
| 09:27 | the Netherlands. Via skype he has contact | |
| 09:30 | with the home front. | |
| 09:33 | Sometimes the picture freezes, the sound. | |
| 09:36 | I thought I would | |
| 09:39 | see your beard, but it wasn’t to be. | |
| 09:42 | Forget it. Forget it. | |
| 09:45 | The connection is | |
| 09:48 | too bad here. | |
| 09:51 | Are you in the kitchen? | |
| 09:58 | The link works better in the kitchen. | |
| 10:01 | Where’s, where’s his mother, where’s my aunt? | |
| 10:04 | Yeah, fetch her, fetch her. | |
| 10:10 | A long time … | |
| 10:13 | Shame we can’t see you… I would love | |
| 10:16 | it if you could also see me, but we have a Syrian connection here, | |
| 10:19 | so it doesn’t work! | |
| 10:22 | So, not Ziggo … | |
| 10:25 | We have things … Ziggo, Ziggo, | |
| 10:28 | we need Ziggo here. | |
| 10:31 | Send it here. | |
| 10:34 | Ziggo, Ziggo. | |
| 10:37 | What do you miss from Holland? | |
| 10:40 | Barber shop. | |
| 10:43 | It’s a … Turkish, like this Turkish guy | |
| 10:46 | just invented this strange fast food dish. | |
| 10:49 | Barber shop. | |
| 10:52 | My family, of course. | |
| 10:55 | It’s a very organised | |
| 10:58 | country. Everything’s very organised. A nice country | |
| 11:01 | very nice. I would like to see that back in an Islamic country | |
| 11:04 | insh’allah one day. | |
| 11:07 | It’s the family, I think. | |
| 11:10 | From the Netherlands, party pack … | |
| 11:13 | yes, 2 kilo, 2 kilo | |
| 11:16 | 2 kilo, from trade | |
| 11:19 | it’s the little things | |
| 11:22 | Did you get them to pay you in M&Ms? | |
| 11:25 | A serious question … | |
| 11:28 | but it’s in the hearts and minds of a lot of people | |
| 11:31 | Are you married? | |
| 11:34 | No … That might be on some people’s minds but | |
| 11:37 | Are you a part of Al-Qaeda? | |
| 11:40 | and, if you are, why? | |
| 11:43 | It’s funny. To be honest, I thought that was going to be one of the | |
| 11:46 | first questions you would ask me, but | |
| 11:49 | I was waiting for this question. | |
| 11:52 | What people should understand and what | |
| 11:55 | is that not everybody | |
| 11:58 | that comes from Europe or wherever | |
| 12:01 | they come from, be it Asia, Europe or | |
| 12:04 | America, Canada, it doesn’t matter. | |
| 12:08 | It doesn’t mean per definition that these people | |
| 12:11 | automatically, as soon as they cross the border they’re part of Al-Qaeda. | |
| 12:14 | A lot of people think | |
| 12:17 | He left his house because he’s radicalised, | |
| 12:20 | He left his house because he’s disturbed. | |
| 12:23 | He left his house because he’s emotional, etc. etc. | |
| 12:26 | These are standard things that the media try to feed the people. | |
| 12:29 | One of these things that they try and do is whoever | |
| 12:32 | comes to Syria as a foreigner is | |
| 12:35 | by definition Al-Qaeda. In my case there’s | |
| 12:38 | no such thing. The brothers of Al-Qaeda | |
| 12:41 | they are here, they’re fighting, it’s known, everybody knows | |
| 12:44 | this. But me being here in Syria fighting | |
| 12:47 | does not mean per definition that I am part of Al-Qaeda. | |
| 12:50 | Allahu Akbar. | |
| 12:53 | Allahu Akbar. | |
| 13:02 | I think the main goal of many, many, many of the | |
| 13:05 | people here, even including the Syrians themselves | |
| 13:08 | is protecting and | |
| 13:11 | defending the innocent people of Syria. | |
| 13:14 | I mean, it’s been almost three years now. Enough is enough. | |
| 13:17 | When is it going to end? When I speak to the people | |
| 13:20 | they smile, but at the same time | |
| 13:23 | they are asking me, When is this going to end? When can we go back home? | |
| 13:26 | So that means the first and the most | |
| 13:29 | important objective is getting these people back | |
| 13:32 | home. OK? Second of all | |
| 13:35 | and also very important for most of the fighters here | |
| 13:38 | is Islamic law. We want the word | |
| 13:41 | of Allah to be uppermost. | |
| 13:44 | We ourselves came from the West, we understand | |
| 13:47 | the systems of the West. We’ve seen with our own eyes | |
| 13:50 | what the West is doing in crisis situations like this. | |
| 13:53 | We don’t want this any more. An Islamic state | |
| 13:56 | built upon Islamic principles | |
| 13:59 | will always defend the rights of the innocent, | |
| 14:02 | and of the people living in its | |
| 14:05 | borders. So this is what we want. | |
| 14:21 | Do you hold a grudge | |
| 14:24 | against the people of Holland? | |
| 14:27 | and some of them are afraid that one day | |
| 14:30 | you yourself, you know, | |
| 14:33 | you’ve had the training from the military | |
| 14:36 | you’ve had the training from being in Jihad, that | |
| 14:39 | they might just be afraid that you might come back | |
| 14:42 | one day. I mean, what would say to those people? | |
| 14:45 | Knowing Holland, they should | |
| 14:48 | they should be worried about other things. | |
| 14:51 | With criminals and pedophiles roaming the streets. | |
| 14:54 | But I understand their fear and it’s not that I am | |
| 14:57 | … and I don’t understand why these people are free. | |
| 15:06 | Don’t worry about me. I’ve chosen this path | |
| 15:09 | for myself and even if, if | |
| 15:12 | if I would come back I would just eat | |
| 15:15 | barber shop and maybe some sushi | |
| 15:18 | have some Dr. Pepper, just give | |
| 15:21 | my mother a big warm hug, sit with the family. I’m not | |
| 15:24 | out there, I’ve never been | |
| 15:27 | a violent person towards people that are not | |
| 15:30 | violent towards me. | |
| 15:36 | In England, terrorism expert Edwin | |
| 15:39 | Bakker. Good evening, Mr. Bakker. | |
| 15:42 | You’ve been listening to the interview with Yilmaz, | |
| 15:45 | what is your first reaction? | |
| 15:48 | We see here a clearly highly motivated | |
| 15:51 | young man who went to Syria because he hoped | |
| 15:54 | by his presence to take part in the fighting, | |
| 15:57 | training people, to make a contribution towards | |
| 16:00 | easing the suffering. He is firmly convinced of that. | |
| 16:03 | Yes, he says I am there and I do this | |
| 16:06 | interview to show that in the West they | |
| 16:09 | have the wrong impression about Jihadis. | |
| 16:12 | Is he really so different? | |
| 16:15 | I think that he’s quite different, | |
| 16:18 | he’s taking part in a fight, and his presence | |
| 16:21 | makes it rather more difficult than easier there, | |
| 16:24 | he has | |
| 16:27 | a clear vision of an Islamic | |
| 16:30 | state; with his Dutch ideas | |
| 16:33 | that he wants to let loose on the Syrians, | |
| 16:36 | as far as that’s concerned, ideologically he’s clearly | |
| 16:39 | a representative of other fighters, but perhaps | |
| 16:42 | his thoughts | |
| 16:45 | are more developed than | |
| 16:48 | people who go there for adventure or because their best friend is going. | |
| 16:52 | He’s wearing Dutch uniform | |
| 16:55 | giving shooting lessons in Syria, | |
| 16:58 | is that allowed? | |
| 17:01 | Taking part in Jihad is not literally | |
| 17:04 | in our Penal Code, but taking part in a | |
| 17:07 | terrorist organisation, and a lot of organisations | |
| 17:10 | that these young men go to deserve that label, certainly | |
| 17:13 | in the eyes of the Syrian government, but also those of a | |
| 17:16 | number of Western countries. Furthermore, | |
| 17:19 | a number of these young men, nearly all of these young men | |
| 17:22 | are directly involved in what we call international crime, | |
| 17:25 | that can be contravening the rules of war, | |
| 17:28 | or in the worst cases war crimes. | |
| 17:31 | and everyone in Syria is guilty of that, | |
| 17:34 | so as far as that is concerned, plus training other people | |
| 17:37 | with that you make … you’ve got a problem | |
| 17:40 | if you come back. What can the Dutch | |
| 17:43 | government about young men such as Yilmaz? | |
| 17:46 | That’s very difficult. The Netherlands | |
| 17:49 | has maybe 120 of these people in Syria, | |
| 17:52 | and other countries have comparable numbers. | |
| 17:55 | The whole of Europe has 1200, but the people are also streaming in | |
| 17:58 | from many Arabic countries, and it seems to be very | |
| 18:01 | difficult to stop. One of the important things | |
| 18:04 | is for example to put a stop to the propaganda for this fight, | |
| 18:07 | and recruitment, facilitation. | |
| 18:10 | And that isn’t mentioned in the film, but this person | |
| 18:13 | is very active on the Internet and that makes, he | |
| 18:16 | gives a black-white picture of the fight | |
| 18:19 | good against evil, and I think | |
| 18:22 | that’s one of the things you can try and stop; the propaganda | |
| 18:25 | machine, to do something about that | |
| 18:28 | which this person is very active in. | |
| 18:31 | He says, I am no danger to the Netherlands, I’m not concerned about the | |
| 18:34 | Netherlands at all; I am fighting in Syria. | |
| 18:37 | Should the Dutch government do anything at all? | |
| 18:40 | Is this a reason for concern, what we see here? | |
| 18:43 | This young man comes across as very calm | |
| 18:46 | he has considered everything carefully, and maybe at the | |
| 18:49 | moment everything he says is true, but a | |
| 18:52 | number of these people see things differently, have other experience, radicalise, | |
| 18:55 | further, come into contact with all sorts of organisations, | |
| 18:58 | perhaps have had a | |
| 19:01 | traumatic experience or are very angry | |
| 19:04 | just like him, that the West is not doing anything, | |
| 19:07 | that the Netherlands isn’t doing anything. | |
| 19:10 | All these things add up, radicalisation, knowledge of weapons, | |
| 19:13 | the anti-Western agenda, means that if these people | |
| 19:16 | come back they form a potential threat, so I can | |
| 19:19 | easily imagine, I too worry, | |
| 19:22 | about these people coming back, | |
| 19:25 | that there are a number among them that, contrary to what he says, | |
| 19:28 | won’t just come back and … return to normal life. | |
| 19:31 | But are planning something else. | |
| 19:34 | Edwin Bakker from England, thank you for your comments. |
My oh my Western Europe is getting just like Yugoslavia at the height of its multicultural “peace” under Tito. Back then a “lone” muslim conscript would just “go off” in the barrack room and shoot “a Christian comrade.” (Wish I cound find those Wall Street Journal articles from way back that almost laughed at the prospects fireworks if Tito lost his grip. Maybe the Soviets didn’t get to hang the west but I think the Islamists or muslims if you will are hoping for more success.
has already happened in some way, an Armenian officer was murdered by an Azeri, while on a NATO course in Austria(???). The guys got released and welcomed back as a hero.
Good thing the Dutch law states that if you enter the military (Turkey) of another country you lose the Dutch nationality..o wait… That law doesn’t apply when you have two passports..
Two passports is also something the Dutch law forbids, except if you are from a third world country, off course.
This guy a Dutchman? Him- and that one million residents in the Netherlands with two or more nationalities- never will be Dutch or treated as such.
it sums up…
What do you miss from Holland?
10:40 Barber shop.
10:43 It’s a … Turkish, like this Turkish guy
As noted by Israeli commentator Caroline Glick in Jerusalem Post, January 10, 2014, Father Gabriel and his followers are harbingers of an even more profound development: the fall of pan-Arabism as an identity: ”Pan-Arabism lies in ruins from North Africa to the Arabian Peninsula. The people of the region have gone back to identifying themselves by tribe, religion, ethnicity, and in the case of the Kurds and the Berbers, non-Arab national identity. In this new era, Christians find themselves imperiled, with few if any protectors or allies to be found.”
Good article and quotes…. with a video from Father Gabriel.
pass the baton around!
Excerpts from:
http://www.d-intl.com/2014/01/22/israeli-christians-change-middle-east-game/?lang=en
“Writes Caroline Glick: ”From Egypt to Tunisia to Iraq to Syria, Israel’s neighbors are fighting each other as Sunnis, Shi’ites and Salafists, or as members of clans and tribes, without a thought for the alleged primacy of their Arab identity. What Israel’s Palestinian-state-obsessed Left has failed to realize is that many of Israel’s neighbors do not share the pan-Arab scapegoating of the Jewish state. So bribing the now largely irrelevant Arabs nationalists with another Arab state may do little more than create the newest victim of the Arab revolutions.””
An orchestrated strategy of tension and the destruction of nationalism, a Great Game of Annihilation.
The West is betrayed.
I think young Muslims of foreign descent should be encouraged to fight in the Middle East and in Muslim countries.
Then they should have their status as refugees, citizens, etc. pulled and they should never, ever be allowed to return to the West.
Look beyond your nose.
Take your own advice!