INESSA ARZUMANYAN
Press at times publishes news about detainment or sentencing of ISIS fighters of Georgian origin. On June 2015 a piece of news was spread all over Georgia that four people had been detained because of being related to the Islamic State. News like this only proves that the recruitment process of new young fighters from Georgia was in an active phase at that period. ISIS even uploaded and spread a video message, in which four jihadi fighters with the ISIS black flag were addressing their fellow Muslim brothers to join them in their“ fight for justice” 27. As it turns out from their speech, all four of them are Kists and have left Pankisi to start fighting in Syria.
In 2015 Huffington Post published an article, with pictures and short biographies on world’ s five most wanted Jihadists 28. Among those was Tarkhan Batirashvili. He is also known as Omar the Chechen or Abu Omar al-Shishani. Omar the Chechen was a former officer at the Georgian Army and he also fought during the Chechen war against Russia. He is believed to have recruited tens of young Georgians from Pankisi Gorge. The influence and the position of Omar the Chechen within the ISIS only proves that the Muslim Georgian population of Pankisi Gorge play important role in the formation of ISIS foreign fighters.
On the other hand, some recruiters were actually based in the region and were recruiting on ground through using their power. During some interviews conducted in the region, the locals talked about mosques that were being opened rapidly all over the region and the propaganda of Arabic language in these mosques – all the attendants could study Arabic without any fees. The mosques and the language classes are of a concern for local people, who are unaware of where the funding of such endeavors comes from 29. The issue of funding is deeper than it may seem from the first sight: if considered
27
Civil Georgia( 2015, November 23). Islamic State Group, Georgian-Language Propaganda Video Emerges. Retrieved January 09, 2018, from http:// www. civil. ge / eng / article. php? id = 28796 28 Tarabay J, These Are The World ' s 5 Most Wanted ISIS Jihadists, 27.06.2015,
https:// www. huffingtonpost. com / 2015 / 06 / 27 / isis-most-wantedjihadist _ n _ 7673466. html 29 Demytrie R., Jihadist shadow hangs over Georgia ' s Pankisi Gorge. BBC News,
21.04.2016, http:// www. bbc. com / news / world-europe-36035312 100