CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | Page 157

KRISTINE MARGARYAN
Little information exists about sources of recruitment. However, it
seems that ISIS recruitment was mainly done by the internet, especially
when several new pages were created online in 2012, when IS offi cial web-
site al-Hayat started its propaganda in Turkish language. 59 One domestic
propagator of ISIS was Omar Abu Mucahid, whose lectures praised ISIS
and its founders, and called for jihad. In 2014, Azerbaijanis themselves
were posting photos in the Internet, where they destroy their passports and
identifi cation cards. 60 On 24 May of 2016 IS released video, which was di-
rected specifi cally to Azerbaijanis. It was entitled as “Message From the
Lands of the Ribat to Occupied Azerbaijan” 61 , with Abdulla Kavkazskiy as
a speaker, who called for joining ISIS or conducting attacks in Azerbaijan.
Al-Qaeda
Some claim that al Qaeda created its network in Azerbaijan; there is a
belief that Azerbaijani mujahedeen were supported by al Qaeda’s offi ce
established in Baku during the war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh
from 1988-1994. For instance, Charalampidis indicates that one of al-Qae-
da’s cells was established in Baku in 1995. 62 However, there are no existing
facts showing the presence of al Qaeda in Azerbaijan; instead, Azerbaijan
was used as an appropriate geographical territory for communication. Af-
ter 9/11 neutralizing al-Qaeda’s cells became a fashionable sign to show
a country’s importance to the anti-terrorism coalition. Azerbaijan also fol-
lowed that scenario. Azerbaijani media posted information about al Qaeda’s
intention to conduct attacks in Azerbaijan because of its involvement in an-
ti-terrorism coalition. However, Azerbaijan is not so attractive for al-Qaeda,
and will not bring much benefi t. The only target that can be of interest is
Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, the US and Israeli embassies. 63
The case of assassination attempt on Russia’s president
Vladimir Putin in Azerbaijan
The fi rst noted assassination attempt on Vladimir Putin was prepared
in Azerbaijan in the end of 2000 during his trip to South Caucasus al-
though the war in North Caucasus was going on. Being only six months
in the offi ce, Azerbaijan was considered as the fi rst country for a visit.
The mission towards the support of Chechnya has already been estab-
lished in Azerbaijan, where terrorists have got a foothold. While envis-
59
60
61
62
63
Leonardo, “The Islamic State and the Connection’s”.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Charalampidis, Sponsored to kill, 4.
Valiyev, “Foreign Terrorist Groups”
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