The Russian press is discussing the topic of radical Islam in Azerbaijan.
Militants, who fought among IS groups, can take certain actions in Azerbaijan
STEPANAKERT, JUNE 29, ARTSAKHPRESS: The question is presented in that connection that according to statistical data, Azerbaijan is the third among the CIS countries by the number of citizens among Islamic State militants.
And now, when in Syria and Iraq the circles against the militants of that organization are being squeezed, it is likely that a considerable part of the militants, who have left Azerbaijan and joined the IS are returning to their homeland in different ways. Head of the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center Andrey Novikov stated the afore-said at the session of the UN Security Council. He said that militants from Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, who had gone to Syria and Iraq, "receiving a military experience begin massively return to the CIS states."
On this occasion, Turkish "Milliyet" wrote that the IS militants returning to Azerbaijan, "may take certain actions as it happened in Iran." The Turkish newspaper apparently refers to the recent terrorist attacks in Tehran, which killed about one and a half people.
Analysts have noted that in Azerbaijan, the violence against the political opposition leave people with no other choise, than to link the hope of changes to this or that direction of Islamic Ideology. According to circulating views, now Azerbaijan is under the pressure of two currents of the Islamic movement coming from Iran and Dagestan. Preachers of Shia Islam from Iran penetrate to Azerbaijan and Wahhabists-from Dagestan, who are closely linked with the Arab world.
There is a possibility that there can be a contradiction between the followers of these two directions. Former chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations of Azerbaijan Rafik Aliyev is afraid that society's divergence in Sunni and Shia directions is fraught with the danger of disrupting political stability. Arif Yunusov, who received political asylum in the Netherlands, believes that the situation in the Middle East dictates to make a choice.
