CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | Page 166

CONTEMPORARY EURASIA
The level of religiosity is increasing in Azerbaijan in line with in-
creased oppressive measures, as shown in analysis. The content analysis
of law on “On Freedom of Religious Belief” asserted that the policy im-
poses greater restrictions on religious groups and ability to perform re-
ligious activities. These restrictions only increase the disappointment of
the society, pushing them towards the radicalization. Azerbaijan’s restric-
tive law on religion seems to be used for justifi cation of fi nes, punish-
ments and police raids, while increasing the cases of legal restrictions.
The vague wording and interpretations open the space for maneuvering
among decisions over persecution and imprisonments.
The analysis of Iranian infl uence nowadays has shown that Iran con-
tinues to spread its infl uence by making the society more religious and
advocating for strengthening their identity. What comes to Azerbaijanis
involvement in terrorist groups, a number of them is still fi ghting for the
ISIS, the fact which is proved my analysis of the news of diff erent me-
dia outlets. As the analysis of tendency of involvement in ISIS showed,
all Azerbaijani citizens fought for the terrorist group. Then, the cases of
those leaving the country with the aim of receiving training for joining
the ranks of terrorist groups also constitute a factor of increased tendency
of radicalization.
To combine the fi ndings – the tendency of increasing religiosity, the
growing number of imprisonments for religious belief and restrictive pol-
icy measures, expanded Iranian religious infl uence and a number of those
still involved in the ranks of terrorist groups – it can be inferred that there
are prospects of increasing tendency of radicalization, which push the so-
ciety towards involvement in international terrorism.
Based on analyses of domestic and external factors the hypothesis is
accepted. The analysis of domestic policy measures proved that oppres-
sive policy measures restricted freedoms of the society making them
more radicalized. In addition, in line with having oppressive measures
and indiscriminate persecution, people are becoming more vulnerable to
external religious infl uence. Therefore, the relationship of religious ex-
ternal infl uence and oppressive domestic measures pushes the society to-
wards international terrorism.
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