The YPG/PKK terror group is using young children to carry out its heinous plans, a confession from a 17-year-old Syrian member of the group has revealed.
The Syrian teenager, identified by the initials A.S.T., said he joined the YPG/PKK terror group when he was just in the eighth grade of a school. His family was poor and he needed money, he said.
He said he was tasked with preventing Kurds from crossing into Turkey from Syria.
He was captured by the Turkish Armed Forces in the countryside of Afrin when the terrorists were planning an attack on the Turkish military and the Free Syrian Army fighters.
In his testimony, A.S.T. said: "After our training ended, I was assigned to Ras al-Ayn, to the borders of Turkey. Here, we were on duty for 7-8 months to obstruct the Syrian and Arab people trying to cross from Syria into Turkey.
"Operation Olive Branch began while we were training in Manbij. The training was stopped when the operation was launched. They sent a total of 80 people who were being trained to support YPG militants in Afrin.
"Our aim was to stop the FSA [Free Syrian Army] and Turkish Armed Forces troops from moving towards the city center in the Afrin countryside. That's why we came to the Arshali neighborhood as a group.
"We were going to make an exploration here, determine where the FSA and Turkish troops were, and attack if we could or ask for reinforcement.
"The YPG terrorist organization is trying to fight Muslims with Muslims by using Kurdish youth in their own and western states' wills. I understand now."
A.S.T. has been charged with "disrupting the unity and integrity of state" at the 3rd Criminal Court in southern Hatay province and he faces a life term if convicted.
Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on Jan. 20 to clear terrorist groups from Afrin in northwestern Syria amid growing threats from the region.
The operation is being carried out under the framework of Turkey's rights based on international law, UN Security Council resolutions, its self-defense rights under the UN charter, and respect for Syria's territorial integrity, it said.
On Saturday, in a statement the Turkish General Staff said that Afrin has been taken under "complete" control and efforts are in progress to help civilians return home in a secure way.
