Turkish forces are seen at Mount Barsaya in northeast of Afrin, January 28, 2018 / Khalil Ashawi / Reuters
On November 26, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense announced that a Turkish soldier was killed on Turkey’s southeastern border with Syria.
In a statement, the ministry said that the soldier, Sgt. Savas Dinc, was wounded while trying to stop people from crossing the border from Turkey to Syria illegally. Dinc was transferred to the Kilis State Hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) November 26, 2021
The Syrian border line with the southeastern Turkish provinces of Kilis and Gaziantep is occupied by Turkey’s Syrian proxies.
The human traffickers who mortally shot Sgt. Dinc were likely members of a Turkish-backed faction. Turkey’s proxies have a monopoly over all smuggling operations along the border line in the region.
Turkey has been turning a blind eye to the criminal activities of its proxies in Syria for several years now. The lack of security and stability in Turkish-occupied Syrian areas has apparently began to harm Ankara. The current Turkish policy on Syria may have hit a dead end.