Security think-tanks and online expert communities in the Western world are perpetuating the dangerous myth that Muslim radicalisation is rife in Central Asia: Analysis by John Heathershaw and David W. Montgomery published on OpenDemocracy.net.
Cover photo: ISIS militants in Raqqa, Syria Credit: RFE/RL Last week EXCAS member Edward Lemon discussed the role that Central Asian fighters have played in international jihadist groups with Radio Free Europe’s Turkmen Service. Also participating in the panel were Jozef Lang, a Central Asian analyst at the Centre for Eastern Studies in Warsaw, Joanna Paraszczuk, […]
On Thursday 13th and Friday 14th November, John Heathershaw, David Lewis, Gregorio Bettiza and Edward Lemon from the Department of Politics, and Rob Gleave from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, will be participating in a workshop at Chatham House entitled ‘Islam, Secularism and Security in Central Asia and Beyond’. The workshop is the […]
Cover Photo: Tajik fighter Olim Yusuf Credit: YouTube Since the government first admitted there was evidence that Tajik citizens were fighting with the opposition to Bashar al-Asad’s regime in May 2013, the threat posed by returning jihadists become, in the eyes of the government, one of the main security questions for the state. But […]
By Edward Lemon Photo: Police stand guard at Friday prayer Credit: Edward Lemon Friday at midday and I am at Prospekt Mira in Moscow. Leaving the metro I find myself amongst a group of skull-cap wearing Central Asians and south Caucasians heading for prayer. As we head towards one of Moscow’s five registered mosques, […]
During the conflict in the Rasht Valley between 2009 and 2011, the Tajik government frequently voiced concerns over the infiltration of “foreign mercenaries” into the country. Three years later and the government’s latest concerns are related to Tajiks joining Islamic militant groups in Syria. Syria’s grand mufti, Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun, stated in May 2014 […]