(14.Juni 2014)“The families are ashamed to talk because these youths have been portrayed as terrorists by local media,“ the spokesperson for the Kurdish Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, Mariwan Naqshbandi, told Al Jazeera.

According to Naqshbandi, approximately 200 young Kurdish men aged 17-24 from the Kurdistan area have made the journey to Syria since the start of the war in 2011. Most have entered through Turkey‘s southeastern city of Gaziantep, where accommodation is provided, before they are guided across the border.