A commander for the Syrian National Army (formerly Free Syrian Army) faction Al Mu’tasim Division posed for pictures as he voted in Turkey’s presidential elections on Sunday.
“With you in peace and in war, Mr President,” Mutasim Abbas said in a tweet. Erdoğan “helped our people and our revolution … with civilised Islam in the face of darkness”, the Syrian fighter said.
The Aleppo-based faction favours a political peace process in the war-torn country but opposes proposals by both Russia and the United States. It is in possession of weapons handed out during the United States’ 2014 train and equip program, and it participated in Turkey’s first cross-border operation on Syrian territory in 2016, Operation Euphrates Shield, which kickstarted the Turkish occupation of wide swathes of land. Since then, Al Mu’tasim has been trained by the Turkish Armed Forces.
Division spokesman Mustafa Sejari also tweeted in support of Erdoğan, and said Erdoğan’s currently unofficial election win was “a victory for all of us”.
There are some 3.5 million Syrians in Turkey under temporary protection status, according to official figures, while some estimates go up to 10 million. According to Supreme Electoral Board, there were 163,044 Syrians in Turkey who were granted citizenship, and therefore have voting rights. Opposition politicians put the number higher, at 215,000 to 466,000 people.
There are some 1.35 million foreign-born residents with voting rights in Turkey, according to a study by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), 557,157 of whom were born in Bulgaria and Germany. Some 64.1 million people are eligible to vote in Turkey’s elections in total.
