Are Turkish mercenaries being sent to fight for Russia in Ukraine?

A video has been gaining traction on social media allegedly displaying Turkish mercenaries going to combat for Russia within the Ukraine warfare.

The video exhibits two troopers holding a Turkish flag and expressing their readiness to become involved within the battle. 

“We’re coming there with the assistance of Allah. We’ve our flag… We’re gonna go and are available again with the assistance of Allah,” says a person with a Turkish flag connected to his bulletproof vest. 

The second particular person within the video is holding a Turkish flag and his uniform has a Turkish and Russian flag sown onto it. 

The letter ‘Z’ is seen on the Russian flag – a image of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, signalling that the video is a latest one.

The clip was first printed on Monday by a pro-Russian Telegram channel claiming that “Turkish legionnaires joined the Russian military and can participate in fight operations in Ukraine”.

Nevertheless it rapidly gained traction when Nexta shared it with the same declare, racking greater than 750,000 views on Twitter.

However are Turkish mercenaries actually being despatched to Ukraine? 

Journalists from Euronews Turkish-language service confirmed that the lads are talking a dialect of Turkish however are not from Turkey. 

The combination between this dialect and a few Russian phrases alerts that these males are probably Ahiska Turks (also referred to as Meskhetian Turks).

In accordance with the World Listing of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, Meskhetian Turks used to dwell alongside the Turkish-Georgian border and had been deported in 1944 by Joseph Stalin to numerous Central Asian Soviet republics, resembling Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

In June 1989, Ahiska Turks in Uzbekistan had been attacked by Uzbeks and greater than 100 had been killed. In consequence, Soviet troops deported over 87,000 Ahiska Turks to Russia. 

Right now, lots of them have since relocated to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Russia together with within the North Caucasus (resembling Chechnya and North Ossetia).

Euronews spoke to a consultant of Ahiska Turks overseas who confirmed that the lads within the video are talking the Ahiska dialect. 

He additionally defined that he believes these are males residing in Russia and due to this fact being mobilised for the warfare in Ukraine. 

He additionally defined that since Ahiska Turks contemplate themselves Turkish, for this reason the troopers are seen brandishing the flag within the video.

This was additionally echoed by Alik Puhati, a journalist primarily based in North Caucasus. “We’ve a small group of Meskhetian Turks residing in Ossetia, and so they had been mobilised similar to everybody else,” he informed Euronews.

Two weeks in the past, Alik Puhati printed images claiming that an Ahiska Turk was amongst these mobilised in Ossetia.

Much like the troopers within the video, the person can also be carrying a patch with the Turkish flag and the letter “Z” drawn over the Ossetian flag above.

In accordance with the deputy army commissariat of Ossetia, greater than 400 males have been mobilised to combat in Ukraine. The purpose is to conscript 1,000 extra within the Ossetia area.

InformNapalm, a world group of web sleuths, declare that they’ve recognized one of many males within the video, saying he lives in Prokhladny, within the North Caucasus area and is an Ahiska Turk. 

Due to this fact, it’s extremely unlikely that these males aren’t Turkish mercenaries however reasonably ethnic minorities residing in Russia which have been mobilised to combat in Ukraine.