The Turkish Foreign Fighters and the Dynamics behind Their Flow into Syria and Iraq

During the past decade, the flow of foreign fighters into conflict zones has emerged as a serious problem that deserves policy intervention. Based on latent content analysis of 89 interviews conducted with Turkish nationals, we examined the factors that influenced the mobilization of foreign fighters into Syria. Informed by the existing literature, the analysis revealed that the decision to engage in foreign fighting was influenced by five factors: a) peer pressure coming from religious networks; b) socialization with Islamic State fighters; c) low levels of risk associated with travel; d) favorable life conditions compared to previous jihad locations; and e) the opportunity to exact revenge. Our findings indicated that Turkish individuals’ decisions to participate in foreign fighting is predominantly influenced by peer pressure coming from preexisting networks. The risk of being acknowledged as a coward, a hypocrite, or disloyal, and the risk of exclusion from religious networks motivated Turkish foreign fighters’ decision to travel to conflict zones.