Turkish neo-Nazi mercenary fighting in Ukraine reveals his journey

Eyup Gorkem Yilmaz, 20, originally from Trabzon, Türkiye, was slightly wounded in a Russian attack in the Zaporizhzhia region while serving with the Ukrainian 60th Mechanized Brigade. Despite his injuries, Yilmaz spoke to the Turkish media outlet Serbestiyet via a Discord connection from his location.

The Turkish neo-Nazi emerged after a Russian Telegram channel published information about the personal documents that he lost in the area where he was wounded.

Yilmaz became widely known after a Russian Telegram channel leaked his personal documents, which he lost in the area where he was injured. He expressed his desire to return to the front as soon as he recovers, showing the equipment he used while answering questions. He emphasized that he was part of the Ukrainian Army and not a mercenary, and he operated under the Ukrainian 60th Mechanized Brigade.

Family ties, motivation for fighting in Ukraine

He said that he had a part of his family in Ukraine and that he had come to protect them. That part of his family was Ukrainian.

Yilmaz mentioned that he is purely Turkish, that his family’s half-side has Ukrainian roots, and that he went to Ukraine to fight because of this connection.

“Likewise, Crimean Tatar Turks, Turks must protect Turks and Turks have no friends other than Turks. In Ukraine, if you look at the places where the Russians hit, Russia always hits civilian areas and hospitals. Ukraine, on the other hand, targets strategic elements in its attacks inside Russia, usually oil depots, etc,” he said.

At the age of 19, Yilmaz said that he came to Ukraine and has been in the country for the last year. Before that, he was in Türkiye and he was a sailor, so he was also abroad. He said that he was a nationalist in his ideology and put Türkiye and Ukraine above everything else. “I am not a Nazi in any way,” Yilmaz said, adding that he wears the patches in question to ‘make fun’ of people.

Volunteer service, financial compensation

Yilmaz said that the flag of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) belonged to a dear friend of his and that he wore it for this reason. Stating that he also served as a medic, Yilmaz said that moral veils do not mean anything.

Yilmaz, who said that he goes as a volunteer but gets paid, said: “I have a regular salary given every month, around $400, apart from that, there are bonuses for staying in the dangerous zone, with additional bonuses, if you never leave the trench, there is a fee of $4,800 for a month.”

“But it’s not worth it. Most of my money goes to a CS: GO -popular video game- vaults or weapon equipment,” Yilmaz said.

“This is not a job to be done for money,” he added.

Yilmaz said that 20,000 mercenaries are operating on behalf of Ukraine and that “half” of them have family there, are married or come from Europe, etc. “There are also people who come for money.”

Looking ahead to Ukraine’s future

“Most of the Turks who fought here have families here and in fact, they have citizenship in Ukraine, some of them have residence permits, they have become locals. There are very few here who came from Türkiye,” he said.

“I was giving all the support I could as a civilian. I was donating some of the money I earned from shipping or trying to gather intelligence from friends’ drone videos on the computer day and night. At first, everyone found it strange, but after I came here, everyone supported me, they were waiting for me to come back. At first, there was no major opposition,” Yilmaz said during the interview.

Yilmaz, who said that he had no idea about the conflict’s future progress in Ukraine and that everything was developing very quickly, said that he would not run away from the war except for a tactical retreat. Yilmaz, who mentioned that he signed the contract with the Ukrainian army, said that after the war he would first participate in the reconstruction activities in Ukraine and that he wanted to do everything he could to fix it.

Yilmaz shared that he wanted to return to Türkiye if he could and that several of his friends had returned to Türkiye after fighting in Ukraine, claiming that one of them had gotten into trouble while the other faced no problems.