CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | Page 154

CONTEMPORARY EURASIA
terchangeably. Salafi sm/Wahhabism is considered as a signifi cant danger
and a great reason of radicalization of Azerbaijanis society. As it was in
Iranian scenario, here also charities played a major role in rooting and
promoting Wahhabism. 42 The main charities came from Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait. Interestingly, not all Salafi sts consider themselves as members
of radical branch. Militant Salafi sts (Kharijites) advocate violence as a
means of achieving Islamic state, while moderate Salafi sts limit their ac-
tivities to preaching and discussions. 43
Literature identifi es three phases of Salafi sts infl ux to Azerbaijan. The
fi rst infl ux followed the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fi rst Rus-
so-Chechen war accompanied by penetration of missionaries from the
Gulf countries and terrorists from North Caucasus in Azerbaijan. Salafi sts
of fi rst infl ux took an advantage from catastrophe created by the war over
Nagorno-Karabakh, which allowed them to advance and strengthen their
radical agenda.
The second wave of Salafi sts penetration took place after the second
Russo-Chechen war by infl ux of jihadi fi ghters to the South Caucasus,
mainly to Azerbaijan and Georgia. This time the main source of radi-
calism was Chechen refugees. 44 The signifi cance of this phase was that
the most refugees were warlords and wounded fi ghters, who developed
among Azerbaijani society the image of “heroic Chechen warrior” 45 ,
which later became a facilitating source of radicalism.
The third phase gave a start to the phenomenon of radicalization of
Azerbaijani society due to the 1997 construction of the Abu Bakr mosque
with Suleymanov, Saudi Arabian educated man as its Imam. The construc-
tion of Abu Bakr mosque itself became the epicenter of recruitment. How-
ever, the mosque was closed in 2008 due to the terrorist attack there. 46 The
strategy of the mosque was more delicate than that of Juma mosque of Shi-
as. Their focus was not politics as in Juma mosque’s case, rather they fo-
cused on morality and habits. Abu Bakr community promoted return to val-
ues and not dissolution of a government, at least in public discourse.
While during their fi rst appearance in Azerbaijan Salafi followers were
from ethnic minorities, recently it was found out that Azerbaijan-born
42
43
44
45
46
David Lonardo, “The Islamic State and the Connections to historical Networks of Jihadism
in Azerbaijan,” Caucasus Survey, (2016): 239-260,; Souleimanov and Ehrmann, “The Rise
of Militant Salafi sm in Azerbaijan and its Regional Implications”.
Valiyev, “Foreign Terrorist Groups”; Rovshan Ibrahimov, “The Participation of Azerbaijan
Citizens in Confl icts in Syria and Iraq and its Potential radicalization Eff ect in Azerbaijan”
in Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism Among Youth to Prevent Terrorism, ed.
Marco Lombardi, Iman Ragab and Vivienne Chin,( IOS Press, 2018), 164-169.
Nedea, Jafarov and Mamadov, “Radical Islam in Azerbaijan”; Souleimanov and Ehrmann,
“The Rise of Militant Salafi sm in Azerbaijan and its Regional Implications”, 118.
Nedea, Jafarov and Mamadov, Ibid..
Ibrahimov, “The Participation of Azerbaijan Citizens in Confl icts,” 165; Valiyev, “The Rise
of Salafi Islam in Azerbaijan”.
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