Turan Group
The Turan Group (Russian: Группа Туран, romanized: Gruppa Turan) is a fake Muslim Russian private military company in Syria.[1] For unknown reasons, the existence of Turan was fabricated by a Russian journalist and others through staged photographs and Photoshop.[2] It is described as a hoax.[2]
According to a September 2018 report from the Chr. Michelsen Institute, contractors of another Russian PMC active in Syria called the Wagner Group who were asked about Turan have never heard of its existence.[3]
History
[edit]The group was supposedly founded in the spring of 2017 Central Asian, Russian and other former Soviet nationals with Special Forces and general military background. The group was described as similar to another Russian PMC active in Syria called the Wagner Group, but that many of its recruits were Central Asians who had adopted Shiite beliefs and were therefore recruited to go to Syria to fight alongside other Shiite militia groups such as Hezbollah. An Estonian-born Russian national using the pseudonym Ivan who said he was affiliated with the group claimed that Russian speaking Arabs with Hezbollah patches had recruited on behalf of the organization, individuals from the former Soviet Union, offering recruits US$15,000 to fight for 8 months in Syria against ISIL.[4]
Gear
[edit]Members of the group were reported to use NATO weapons such as M4 Carbines, and to wear black, red and blue stripes on their shirts with "Turan" inscribed on them and patches with a clenched fist holding a Kalashnikov type rifle, similar to Hezbollah's logo. The group was also said to venerate Tamerlane and the Timurid Empire, including using Timurid symbols among their own.[5]
References
[edit]- ↑ Leviev, Ruslan (6 January 2018). "Turan — a new private military company fighting in Syria or an elaborate hoax?". Conflict Intelligence Team.
- 1 2 Marten, Kimberly (26 March 2019). "Russia's use of semi-state security forces: the case of the Wagner Group". Post-Soviet Affairs. 35 (3): 181–204. doi:10.1080/1060586X.2019.1591142. ISSN 1060-586X.
- ↑ Østensen, Åse Gilje; Bukkvoll, Østensen Tor (1 September 2018). Russian Use of Private Military and Security Companies – the implications for European and Norwegian Security. Chr. Michelsen Institute, Norwegian Defence Research Establishment. p. 27. hdl:11250/2564170. ISBN 978-82-464-3101-7. FFI-RAPPORT 18/01300. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
In October 2017 the Russian newspaper Moskovskii Komsomolets ran an interview with an anonymous source who claimed that he had fought in Syria for a private Russian PMSC called Turan. According to this source, Turan is together with Wagner the most important Russian PMSCs today. He further described Turan as a 'Muslim battalion'. Additionally, the pro-Kremlin newspaper Vzgliad has claimed that Turan exists and is made up of Muslim fighters from Central Asia and the North Caucasus. An interview with a former Turan fighter in the web resource Baltnews in November 2017 further confirmed this composition of Turan fighters. There is, however, much uncertainty about Turan, and some even doubt that the unit exists. For example, Denis Korotkov, a journalist who investigated Wagner for Fontanka, seriously doubts their existence. He said that the sources he interviewed for his Wagner investigation had never heard of any Turan. [citations omitted]
- ↑ "Private military companies: Moscow's other army in Syria". OrientNet. 1 December 2017.
- ↑ "A Battalion Of Turan Б─■ Blackwater Russia!". Csef.ru. Retrieved 4 August 2018.