As a member of an Islamic youth organization named Milli Gençlik Vakfı, he joined the group of Shamil Basayev in the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict with code name Hadjarat, in the summer of 1992. He wanted to go to Chechnya in 1994 to participate in the Chechen War, when he was a sergeant in the Abkhazian Army. Since he could not pass to Chechenya from Abkhazia, he used the way from Azerbaijan to Chechnya. He did not manage to go to Chechnya, as he was handed over to Russians and detained in a prison. However, he saved him from the prison and returned to Turkey where he participated in hijacking the ferryboat MV Avrasya in 1996. He was sentenced to eight years in prison in Turkey, but released after serving three and a half years.