LONDON
Daesh is affecting people almost the same way that the music industry and pop stars do, a former U.K. chief crown prosecutor claims.
In an exclusive interview with The Anadolu Agency on Friday, Nazir Afzal, Britain’s first Muslim to serve as the chief crown prosecutor for North West England, explained why youngsters flock towards Syria to join terrorist organizations.
"[...] in Britain in the 1960s, we had Beatlemania, (when) all the boys wanted to be like them, and all the girls wanted to be with them," Afzal said. "Firstly, like Beatles, and more recently like One Direction and Justin Bieber," he added.
He said that Daesh was trying to suggest to the youth that their lives were as glorious as carefree as of a pop idol.
"They are trying to suggest that they are renegade cowboys, living a glamorous and free life; and they are using the marketing tool in the same way that the music industry has done, which is encouraging the boys to be like the pop stars, and encoring the girls that you really want to be with them," he said.
Afzal has previously campaigned for women’s rights, including against forced marriage and honor killings. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 2005.
Main motives
About the main motives that convinces British citizens to travel and fight in Syria and Iraq, Afzal said "we had to remember that many among them were teenagers."
According to an estimate, around 600 British citizens, among them young girls, have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join terrorist groups like Daesh.
"They are being groomed, they are being encouraged and inspired that there is a better world than the one they currently have in the U.K.," he said.
He said that the terrorists target especially those who were disillusioned with their lives in the U.K. and then distance such youth from their families and friends.
Afzal also said that there was an identity crisis among some young Muslims.
"They do not really know who they are, they do not know where they are going. They have limited ambitions, they do not have anybody to aspire to, they do not have any role model," he said.
Another main reason why the terrorists succeed, the prosecutor said, was because of a supposed growing communication gap between parents and children, which fuelled such youth to join terrorist organizations as a form of escapism.
‘Unsafe at home’
Afzal said that most British Muslim parents thought that if children, especially young girls stayed at home, they remained safe.
"If their children are not going out to clubs, especially young girls, if their daughter isn't going out with somebody or is not taking drugs, then they think their job is done," he said.
He warned parents about the dangers of online recruitments carried out by groups like Daesh.
Turkey deserves praise
The former British crown prosecutor also acknowledged that Turkey had taken on an enormous burden in the ongoing Middle East crisis and called on the world to pay tribute to Ankara for its efforts to help refugees. Also, Turkey was making enormous efforts to police its borders and identifying suspects, he added.
Turkey, which shares a 800-kilometer long border with Syria, is cooperating closely with western countries, especially Britain, to stop the flow of fighters toward Syria.
