JAN. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — With an easily accessible war to sign up for on their doorstep, Islamists in Azerbaijan have been slipping into Syria to fight in the conflict.
The APA news agency reported that seven Azerbaijani nationals have been killed this year in Syria.
The authorities in Azerbaijan worry that these men will return home radicalised, battle-hardened and keen to kick up old sectarian fights.
The exact number of Azerbaijanis who have travelled to Syria to fight in the conflict is difficult to pin down but it is probably between 100 and 200. Many, according to reports, are from the Sunni region of Sheki-Zagatala in northern Azerbaijan. Sheki-Zagatala nudges the Caucasus Mountains and the relatively lawless north Caucasus.
The problem for the Azerbaijani authorities is that recruiting videos for the radical Islamist groups fighting in Syria have become increasingly popular. They have given Islamists frustrated in Azerbaijan, the cause they have been looking for.
Writing for meydan.tv, Tamara Grigoryeva investigated reasons for this migration of Azerbaijan-based radicals to Syria. She quoted Gareth Jenkins at the Central Asia-Silk Road Studies programme as saying that it is not difficult for Azerbaijanis to travel to Syria.
“The Turkish government has recently been clamping down on the movement of jihadists across the border into Syria,” he was quoted by Ms Grigoryeva as saying.
“But people are still crossing. Even though it is more difficult than before, it is still relatively easy.”
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 168, published on Jan. 22 2014)