Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

ISIS fighter from Holland answers Tumblr questions

Samuel Osborne
Saturday 21 November 2015 19:57 GMT
Comments
'Fearless, not Reckless' Israfil Yilmaz wrote alongside a picture of an Isis militant
'Fearless, not Reckless' Israfil Yilmaz wrote alongside a picture of an Isis militant (Israfil Yilmaz/Tumblr)

A Dutch citizen who says he is fighting on behalf of Isis in Syria has been answering questions about life in the self-proclaimed caliphate to spread propaganda about life under Isis.

Israfil Yilmaz, who is of Turkish descent, abandoned a career in the Royal Netherlands Army in 2013 to join Islamist rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Yilmaz defended the recent Isis attack on Paris, which murdered 129 people, by calling it a fair response to French military action against Isis, the New York Times reports.

Explaining why he decided to join Isis, he said: "Everybody is against war until you see your own people getting slaughtered like cattle.

"I'm not only happy, but I feel blessed and honoured being here in the Islamic State."

(Israfil Yilmaz/Tumblr)

Other questions touched on personal details of Yilmaz's life, while others asked the technical and religious aspects of fighting for Isis.

In response to the question of whether he missed his mother, Yilmaz replied: "Sometimes, yes."

One person said: "I've heard that you're not allowed to use Apple products, iPhones etc," to which Yilmaz responded: "This is true, I had to sell my wife's iPhone."

Obama - Isis is 'the face of evil'

However, he also gave far darker responses, such as making jokes about gay men deserving to be "thrown off a high building" and defending the practice of Yazidi women and girls being "taken as spoils of war".

Isis has previously murdered gay men by pushing them off the top of buildings. Yazidi women and girls have described how they were beaten and gang-raped on a daily basis.

Between the questions and answers, Yilmaz uploaded photos from his daily life, including photographs of his son and propaganda images showing Isis fighters cuddling cats.

In a rare unanimous vote, the UN has called on the world to unite to "eradicate" the jihadist group.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in