CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | Page 147

KRISTINE MARGARYAN
fl uenced by such external factors as the Islamic Republic of Iran, insur-
gencies in the North Caucasus and the Middle East. In the course of time,
the number of Azerbaijanis taking a more radical stance has increased.
It urged the government to take decisive policy measures against rising
terrorism. However, government’s steps, which were mostly oppressive,
proved to be counterproductive. Weak economic conditions and social
dissatisfaction, on the other hand, have become domestic factors facilitat-
ing the homegrown radicalization process of society.
What the capstone project aims to examine is the role of foreign and
domestic factors contributing to the radicalization of Azerbaijan’s soci-
ety, and the prospects of involvement in international terrorism. This is
important nowadays, taking into account the possible consequences if
radicals gain a strong ground in Azerbaijan. Become Azerbaijan a coun-
try with strong-based fundamentalists activities, the South Caucasus can
face the threat of terrorism by becoming a transit region or even a target
for terrorists. Moreover, Azerbaijan has already experienced the role of
a transit country for Chechen terrorists during two Russo-Chechen wars
in the 1990s. There were also reported cases, when Azerbaijan invited
Afghan mujahedeen to fi ght in the confl ict over Nagorno-Karabakh in
the early 1990s. Therefore, the issue poses a direct security threat also
in case of large-scale war in the Nagorno-Karabakh confl ict. And last but
not least, the concerns over the radicalization of the society have already
been on the rise in line with the growing number of Azerbaijani fi ghters
in Syria and Iraq. In case those who fought in the ranks of terrorist groups
return back to Azerbaijan, they can not only challenge the stability of the
country, but also spread the radical ideology, contributing to the further
involvement in international terrorism. Taking all these factors into con-
sideration, this is relevant nowadays to understand what triggers the pro-
cess of radicalization; especially, how potent the foreign infl uence is to-
day and whether the policy measures used to contend radicalization serve
their aim.
The study has the following structure. The fi rst part introduces the
case of Azerbaijan in terrorism, where the turning points are presented
from independence to nowadays. The research will be fi nalized by pre-
senting the collection of data and analyses.
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