Turkish media extensively covered the story of 19-year-old Suleyman Bengi crossing the border to Syria and joining the Islamic State (IS). Suleyman, a freshman dentistry student at a prominent Ankara university and son of an academic, took along with him his 16-year-old twin brothers Dilar and Dilsat. Everyone is asking what could have motivated a young man from a well-to-do, educated family to embark on such an adventure.

Suleyman’s family lives in Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey. His father is a faculty member of Dicle University's mining engineering department. His mother is a civil servant. Their financial situation is comfortable.

Al-Monitor spoke with Suleyman's friends at the student hostel in Ankara’s Cebeci district where he lived. We learned that when Suleyman arrived at the hostel a year ago, he was already devoutly religious and prayed regularly. Suleyman's hostel mates described him as a loner who appeared to not want to be friends with anyone and never participated in common activities. They said they noticed a change in Suleyman after he began to visit a bookshop in the Cebeci district. He then started lifting weights in the hostel gym. One time, he told the others in the gym to play religious hymns, not music, and actually started a fight over it. His clothing style also changed. He tried to take some of his friends to the bookshop but couldn’t persuade them.

A hostel mate said, “This was his first year. If his parents had been with him, they could have noticed the change in him.”