Syrian rebels eulogise Aussie 'martyr'
BY: DAN BOX AND PIA AKERMAN
The Australian
January 02, 2013 12:00AM
AN Australian man killed while fighting in Syria's bloody civil war is being hailed as a martyr in online tributes posted by rebel forces, which show him posing with weapons and building home made bombs.
The man's name and date of birth correspond with that given for one person in a secret 2010 cable sent by the US embassy in Canberra, detailing people to be added to the US government's Terrorist Screening Database. However, his family deny he was a member of any extremist group.
Travelling under the name Abu al-Walid al-Australi, the former Melbourne bricklayer is shown in tributes to be a fighter with the anti-government Syrian militia. Two other Australians, from Sydney and from Melbourne, were killed last year after entering Syria to take part in what their families described as humanitarian work.
Security agencies believe that more than 100 Australians have joined the Syrian civil war, amid fears the experience could provide potential extremists with combat skills and training.
Abu al-Walid's real name is Yusuf Toprakkaya, a 30-year-old Turkish-Australian whose parents and wife still live in Melbourne's northern suburb of Broadmeadows, although his wife is understood to have supported him going to Syria.
A 2010 US government cable, released by WikiLeaks, requested that a Turkish-Australian called "Yousef Topprakaya" be placed on the "SELECTEE list", of the Terrorist Screening Database as he had "demonstrated connections" with a former Yemeni al-Qaida leader, Anwar al-Awlaki.
Twenty-three Australians are named in the US embassy cable, which said the names were provided by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Anyone placed on the 'SELECTEE list' should be automatically selected for enhanced screening for US flights.
An online tribute posted by the al-Farouk Brigades, part of the Free Syria Army, said Mr Toprakkaya had been killed by a sniper during a battle at the Wadi al-Dayf military base on December 30.
"The martyr Abu al-Walid al-Australi . . . whenever we went on any battle I would see him on the front lines," this tribute said.
"(He) left Australia and left behind his parents, and he's their only son, and he left his wife and job. And he headed for Syria a mujahed for the cause of Allah."
The short film shows Mr Toprakkaya as one of a group of bearded fighters, posing with heavy weapons and squatting on the ground while he primed the detonators of homemade bombs.
"Abu al-Walid received today what he asked for . . . His body received the bullet as he was advancing, not retreating," the text accompanying this film reads.
Online reports posted by pro-government agencies in Syria suggested Mr Toprakkaya was a member of the al-Nusra Front, an extremist group linked to al-Qa'ida, which is also fighting as part of the Free Syria Army.
Friends of Mr Toprakkaya denied this connection, however, and the claims made in this video have not been supported elsewhere.
Mr Toprakkaya's sisters, who declined to be named, said yesterday he had gone to Syria to provide humanitarian assistance. "He didn't want to be a bystander to all the atrocity that was happening," one said.
"He paid the ultimate price for being a nice person, for helping out and not just sitting and watching what was happening. He wouldn't harm a thing. Animals would follow him home from the shopping centre -- he had so much love to give."
The Syrian civil war has already seen thousands of foreigners cross the country's porous borders to join the fighting between the country's Sunni majority and the minority Alawite regime of Bashar al-Assad.
A number of Islamic organisations in Australia are sending money to Syria, ostensibly to support humanitarian work, although security agencies believe some of this money may flow to rebel forces.
A delegation of leading Australian Muslims, including the Grand Mufti, Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, yesterday visited a refugee camp in neighbouring Jordan.
What makes the "Mufti of Sydney's Occupied Territories and his fellow insurgents "feel like we are on cloud nine" ?
He's such a Good Boy he neva do nutting to no body
Mother's grief after Yusuf Toprakkaya's death in Syria battle
Stephen Drill
January 03, 201312:00AM
THE mother of an Australian killed fighting with rebel forces in Syria says he was not a terrorist despite being put on a US watch list.
Muazez Toprakkaya told the Herald Sun at her Broadmeadows home her son Yusuf was only trying to help the Syrian people.
"My son is very sweet. He was there just to help, to help the children. (Syrian leader Bashar al-) Assad is very bad, he has killed all those people, why?" she said.
When asked whether her son was involved with terrorists, Mrs Toprakkaya said: "No, my son is very good, my son is not like that."
Mr Toprakkaya, 30, was killed by a sniper in a battle for the Wadi al-Dayf military base on December 30.
His sisters said in a statement their brother was a kind-hearted person.
"He was in Syria for this same reason - to help the innocent people who were being oppressed," they said.
"His last sentiments were that if (his) family was in the same situation he would want someone to defend and protect them."
Neighbours were delivering food to the family home yesterday as relatives gathered to mourn his death.
The family is of Turkish background and are Sunni Muslims, a group that is in conflict with al-Assad who is from the Alawite group.
Mr Toprakkaya had been in Syria for at least six months, his mother said.
A YouTube tribute for Mr Toprakkaya described him as Abu al-Walid, "who died a martyr". He can also be seen making a crude bomb in the YouTube clip, posted by the al-Farouk Brigades in the past week.
"Abu al-Walid left Australia and left behind his parents, and he's their only son, and he left his wife and job," the tribute said.
"He rose to be martyred by the snipers of the Assad gangs in the Solid Built battle to liberate Wadi al-Dayf.
"His body received the bullet as he was advancing, not retreating."
The Australian reported Mr Toprakkaya was on a US terrorist screening database.
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