Erhan, a 14-year-old becoming involved in Islamist extremism.
Erhan was raised as a Muslim, but did not attend mosque. He moved from Turkey to the UK with his family. Soon after arriving his parents separated. With no friends, he started feeling increasingly isolated and began to spend a considerable amount of time on the internet.
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Video length - 1 minute 51 seconds
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Me, mum and my brother Ozgur used to live in Turkey on my grandfather’s apricot farm but my dad made us move to England to live with him. I was excited, but when we got there it wasn’t what I expected. I don’t know why dad made us come, I don’t think he liked us being there. Everything we did was wrong. If Ozgur’s shoes weren’t lined up by the door or my shirt was untucked he would hit mum and scream at her that we had ruined his life. It got so bad - dad told mum he was going to kill us - so we had to move away.
I wanted to go back to Turkey but now mum and dad aren’t together, our family didn’t want to see us. At school I didn’t have any friends. My English was bad and the other kids laughed at my accent. They thought I didn’t understand what they were saying about me, but I did. I’d get so mad I’d bite my hands till they bled. I tried to tell mum about it, but she didn’t understand.
After school I never really did much apart from spend all my free time on the internet. I found some stuff on a video sharing site about ISIS, they reminded me of people in my village. They talked about how we’re all brothers and sisters. They spoke about how every Muslim is responsible for working towards an Islamic State, even if you have to give your own life. I saw how the non-believers were murdering my people. I believed in them and really wanted to fight alongside them.
One time, Miss Sterling made me stay after class. She asked what I had been drawing on my hands and in my notebook. I told her they were ISIS symbols and that when I was old enough I was gonna go and fight with them. I wanted revenge.
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