Mikhail Belyaev for "Vestnik Kavkaza"
Never-ending reports concerning Azerbaijani hitmen who travel west thousands of miles from their homeland to battle the government armies of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, continue to excite the Azerbaijani public. The number of Azerbaijani Mujahideen killed passed the hundred mark in 2014. This figure is quite high for a small South Caucasus republic. In comparison, the fighting losses of the Azerbaijani army in the zone of the Karabakh conflict amounted to 11 people in 2013. Videos and photos uploaded to the internet, where the Azerbaijani fighters in Syria are depicted, indicate that they belong to the flow of Salafis which have taken root for the last decades in Azerbaijan.
For a secular country, which traditionally is absolutely far from any kind of religious extremism, this tendency is more than defensive. There are ordinary citizens on Azerbaijani social networks who do not hide their resentment of the fact that under the occupation by the Armenian forces of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding seven districts young people die in a foreign country for foreign interests. Society is increasingly connected to this discussion and even more often the subject of Azerbaijanis in Syria is commented on by politicians, religious leaders and experts.
In early February, a deputy of the Milli Majlis, Zahid Oruc, first raised this issue in parliament. Speaking about Azeri mercenaries fighting in Syria, he called on the Azerbaijani government to take urgent measures. “The parliament should make corresponding changes to the legislation, and the State Office of Public Prosecutor should bring criminal cases on their basis. We can't prevent this process by referring to it in terms of humanism and religion. It is necessary to take urgent administrative measures. Because young people are departing today to fight in Syria today, tomorrow can become a real headache to the Azerbaijani state,” Zahid Oruc said. After a while, a deputy from the ruling party, Rabiyat Aslanova, made a similar statement. “Azerbaijanis fighting in Syria should know our laws and understand that if they come home they will be responsible for their actions to the full severity of the law.” The head of the parliamentary committee for human rights emphasized, that young people are not going to fight in Syria now. Head of department of Muslims of the Caucasus Allakhshukyur Pashazade also repeatedly opposed the participation of Azerbaijanis in the fighting in Syria and even held a conference devoted to this question. Pashazade emphasizes, that Azerbaijanis killed in Syria for the money, are not shahids. “There they shed blood. Sometimes they are even called "shahids". It is incorrect. The believing person, first of all, must protect the family and the earth”, Pashazade said during his recent visit to the northern regions of the country. By the way, the fact, that the visit of the Azerbaijani clergy in the north of the country, where the positions of the Salafis are stronger, some experts also is related to the Syrian issues. At last, on April 3 the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed the order about law application of March 14 about modification of the law "About Fight Against Terrorism". It is assumed that in line with the changes will be tightened struggle with participation of Azerbaijani citizens in illegal armed groups, that will especially concern fighters at war in Syria.
Despite the fact that the majority of Azerbaijani Muslims are Shia, practically nothing is known about the participation of Azerbaijanis in fighting with the forces of Bashar Assad. Press reports about Azerbaijani Shiites from Absheron villages being killed in battles for Assad weren't confirmed. As pointed out by the researcher of Islam in Azerbaijan Arif Yunus in one of his interviews, return of Azerbaijani mercenaries from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, can bring significant problems. More openly expressed fears of Azerbaijan in connection with prospect of homecoming of extremists with the received fighting skills - are quite reasonable. However, this problem is characteristic not only for Azerbaijan, but also for many European countries. According to various estimates, up to two thousand European jihadists in Syria participates and besides a certain part of them is made by the converted Europeans like the most famous German militants in Syria Denis Kusperta. A total of only one German Syrian opposition managed to recruit more than 300 mercenaries.
Obviously, that recruitment and direction of jihadists’ flow from around the world points to Syria - focused coordinated process counteraction to which – an obligation of law enforcement agencies, first of all, at national level. There is also aware regularly declare at various levels about importance of religious education for prevention of extremism in Azerbaijan. However, efficiency of mechanisms for working with various religious communities still isn't brought to due level.
Strengthening of the international interaction on fight against terrorism also is a necessary condition for effective neutralization of similar negative processes at global level. However, it’s a rhetorical question, how interested the special services of the leading Western countries and sponsoring Syrian Arab monarchies insurgency.
