Research Article
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Explaining Foreign Fighter Mobilization from the North Caucasus to Syria: Historical Legacy, Existing Networks, and Radicalized Identity

Year 2019, Issue: 9, 241 - 274, 30.12.2019
https://doi.org/10.32739/uskudarsbd.5.9.65

Abstract

This paper focuses on foreign fighter mobilization in the North Caucasus within the context of the similar motivations stemming from the Russian-Chechen wars and the Syrian Civil War. This paper seeks answers to the questions of what the conditions that facilitate the flow of the North Caucasian foreign fighters into Syria are and what the role of Russian-Chechen wars and other historical and social factors in this process is. This study proposes and applies an analytical framework of historical legacy, existing networks, and radicalized identity on the North Caucasian case. The empirical analysis is based on the examination of the expressions made by three North Caucasian fighters in Syria: Abdulhakim Shishani, Muslim Shishani, Salakhuddin Shishani. This study concludes that there is a historical continuity in the codes of radicalization and insurgency in the region from the past to present and same motivations may prompt foreign fighter mobilization in future conflicts.

Supporting Institution

TUBITAK

Thanks

This work was supported by TUBITAK Support to Participation in International Scientific Activities [grant number 1919B021801511] and Istanbul University Health, Culture and Sports Department. I would also like to thank Ali Murat Kurşun for his support with his information, suggestions and contributions during the preparation of the article.

References

  • "Foreign Fighters under International Law" (Academic Briefing No.7, Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, 2014), http://www.geneva-academy.ch/docs/publications/Briefings%20and%20In%20breifs/Foreign%20Fighters%20Under%20International%20Law%20Briefing%20no7.pdf (accessed July 8, 2018).
  • Bakke, Kristin M. "Help Wanted?: The Mixed Record of Foreign Fighters in Domestic Insurgencies". International Security 38, no.4 (2014): 150–87. doi:10.1162/ISEC_a_00156.
  • Bakker, Edwin, and Peter Grol. "Motives and Considerations of Potential Foreign Fighters from the Netherlands". (Policy Brief No.3, The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague, July 2015), https://icct.nl/publication/motives-and-considerations-of-potential-foreign-fighters-from-the-netherlands/ (accessed June 20, 2018).
  • Bakker, Edwin, and Roel de Bont. "Belgian and Dutch Jihadist Foreign Fighters (2012–2015): Characteristics, Motivations, and Roles in the War in Syria and Iraq". Small Wars & Insurgencies 27, no.5 (2016): 837–57. doi:10.1080/09592318.2016.1209806.
  • Bie, Jasper L. de, Christianne J. de Poot, and Joanne P. van der Leun. "Shifting Modus Operandi of Jihadist Foreign Fighters From the Netherlands Between 2000 and 2013: A Crime Script Analysis". Terrorism and Political Violence 27, no.3 (2015):416–40. doi:10.1080/09546553.2015.1021038.
  • Byman, Daniel. "The Homecomings: What Happens When Arab Foreign Fighters in Iraq and Syria Return?".Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 38, no.8 (2015): 581–602. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2015.1031556.
  • Campana, Aurélie and Jean-François Ratelle. "A Political Sociology Approach to the Diffusion of Conflict from Chechnya to Dagestan and Ingushetia". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 37, no.2 (2014): 115–34. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2014.862901.
  • Dawson, Lorne L., and Amarnath Amarasingam. "Talking to Foreign Fighters: Insights into the Motivations for Hijrah to Syria and Iraq". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 40, no.3 (2017):191–210. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2016.1274216.
  • Duyvesteyn, Isabelle, and Bram Peeters. "Fickle Foreign Fighters? A Cross-Case Analysis of Seven Muslim Foreign Fighter Mobilisations (1980-2015)" (No. 8, The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, The Hague 6, 2015), https://icct.nl/publication/fickle-foreign-fighters-a-cross-case-analysis-of-seven-muslim-foreign-fighter-mobilisations-1980-2015/ (accessed July 3, 2018).
  • Gurski, Phil. Western Foreign Fighters: The Threat to Homeland and International Security, Rowman & Littlefield. 2017.
  • Güney, Beyza Gülin. Rus Çeçen İlişkileri Bağlamında Çatışma ve İşbirliği Dinamikleri. Istanbul: Cinius Yayınları. 2017.
  • Haner, Murat, Ashley Wichern, and Marissa Fleenor."The Turkish Foreign Fighters and the Dynamics behind Their Flow into Syria and Iraq". Terrorism and Political Violence, (2018):1–19.doi:10.1080/09546553.2018.1471398.
  • Hegghammer, Thomas. "The Rise of Muslim Foreign Fighters: Islam and the Globalization of Jihad". International Security 35, no.3 (2010): 53–94.
  • Holmer, Georgia, and Adrian Shtuni."Returning Foreign Fighters and the Reintegration Imperative". (Special Report No. 402, United States of Institute of Peace, March 2017.) https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2017-03/sr402-returning-foreign-fighters-and-the-reintegration-imperative.pdf (accessed June 16, 2018).
  • Kitagawa, Seiichi. "Çeçenistan’da Savaş Komutanlarından Cemaat Emirlerine Dönüşüm". Kafkasya Stratejik Araştırmalar Merkezi, February 8, 2017, https://kafkassam.com/cecenistanda-savas-komutanlarindan-cemaat-emirlerine-donusum.html (accessed 8 August, 2018)
  • Malet, David. "Foreign Fighter Mobilization and Persistence in a Global Context". Terrorism and Political Violence 27, no.3 (2015): 454–73. doi:10.1080/09546553.2015.1032151.
  • Malet, David. "Why Foreign Fighters? Historical Perspectives and Solutions". Orbis: FPRI’s Journal of World Affairs 54, no.1(2010): 97–114. doi:10.1016/j.orbis.2009.10.007.
  • Malet, David. Foreign Fighters: Transnational Identity in Civil Conflicts.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
  • Mendelsohn, Barak. "Foreign Fighters—Recent Trends". Orbis: FPRI’s Journal of World Affairs 55, no.2 (2011):189–202. doi:10.1016/j.orbis.2011.01.002.
  • Mishali-Ram, Meirav."Foreign Fighters and Transnational Jihad in Syria". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 41, no.3 (2018): 169–90. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2017.1283198.
  • Moore, Cerwyn, and Paul Tumelty. "Foreign Fighters and the Case of Chechnya: A Critical Assessment".Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 31, no.5 (2008): 412–33. doi:10.1080/10576100801993347.
  • Nilsson, Marco. "Foreign Fighters and the Radicalization of Local Jihad: Interview Evidence from Swedish Jihadists". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 38, no.5 (2015): 343–58. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2015.1005459.
  • Pokalova, Elena."Driving Factors behind Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. (2018): 1-21. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2018.1427842.
  • Ratelle, Jean-François."North Caucasian Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Assessing the Threat of Returnees to the Russian Federation". Caucasus Survey 4, no.3 (2016):218–38. doi:10.1080/23761199.2016.1234096.
  • Reynolds, Sean C., and Mohammed M. Hafez. "Social Network Analysis of German Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq". Terrorism and Political Violence, (2017): 1–26. doi:10.1080/09546553.2016.1272456.
  • Sagramoso, Domitilla. "Violence and Conflict in the Russian North Caucasus". International Affairs 83, no.4 (2007): 681–705. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2346.2007.00647.x.
  • Sheikh, Jakob. "I Just Said It. The State": Examining the Motivations for Danish Foreign Fighting in Syria". Perspectives on Terrorism 10, no.6 (2016): 59–67. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26297706.
  • Sole, Sefa, "Kafkasya’da Rus Emperyalizmi ve Kafkas Direnişi", last modified June 25,2016, https://www.stratejikortak.com/2016/06/kafkasya-rusya-kafkas-direnisi.html. (accessed July 20, 2018).
  • Soufan, Ali and Daniel Schoenfeld. "Regional Hotbeds as Drivers of Radicalization". Jihadist Hotbeds: Understanding Local Radicalization Processes, ed. by Arturo Varvelli, 1st ed. (Milano: Novi Ligure (AL): ISPI, 2016)
  • Souleimanov, Emil. "The Caucasus Emirate: Genealogy of an Islamist Insurgency". Middle East Policy 18, no.4 (2011): 155–68. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4967.2011.00517.x. Weiss, Caleb. "Transformative Networks: The Case of North Caucasian and Central Asian Jihadist Networks". Illini Journal of International Security 3, no.1 (2017):37-74, https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/96239/weiss_caleb.pdf?sequence=2
  • Wilhelmsen, Julie. "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Islamisation of the Chechen Separatist Movement". Europe-Asia Studies 57, no.1 (2005): 35–59. https://econpapers.repec.org/article/tafceasxx/v_3a57_3ay_3a2005_3ai_3a1_3ap_3a35-59.htm.

Kuzey Kafkasya’dan Suriye’ye Yabancı Savaşçı Mobilizasyonunu Açıklamak: Tarihsel Miras, Mevcut Ağlar ve Radikalleşmiş Kimlik

Year 2019, Issue: 9, 241 - 274, 30.12.2019
https://doi.org/10.32739/uskudarsbd.5.9.65

Abstract

Bu makale, Rus-Çeçen Savaşları ve Suriye İç Savaşı’ndan kaynaklanan Kuzey Kafkasya’daki yabancı savaşçı mobilizasyonunun benzer motivasyonlarla hareket ettiğine odaklanmaktadır. Bu makale, Kuzey Kafkasyalı yabancı savaşçıların Suriye’ye akışını kolaylaştıran koşulların neler olduğu ve bu süreçte Rus-Çeçen Savaşları’nın ve diğer tarihi ve sosyal faktörlerin rolünün ne olduğu sorularına yanıt aramaktadır. Bu çalışma, Kuzey Kafkasya’daki yabancı savaşçılara ilişkin tarihsel mirasın, mevcut ağların ve radikalleşmiş kimliğin analitik bir çerçevesini sunmakta ve uygulamaktadır. Çalışmanın ampirik analizi, Suriye’de üç Kuzey Kafkas savaşçısı tarafından yapılan ifadelerin incelenmesine dayanmaktadır: Abdülhakim Şişani, Müslim Şişani, Selahaddin Şişani. Bu çalışma, geçmişten günümüze bölgedeki radikalleşme ve isyan kodlarında tarihsel bir süreklilik olduğu ve aynı motivasyonların gelecekteki çatışmalarda da yabancı savaşçı mobilizasyonunu tetikleyebileceği sonucuna varmaktadır.

References

  • "Foreign Fighters under International Law" (Academic Briefing No.7, Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, 2014), http://www.geneva-academy.ch/docs/publications/Briefings%20and%20In%20breifs/Foreign%20Fighters%20Under%20International%20Law%20Briefing%20no7.pdf (accessed July 8, 2018).
  • Bakke, Kristin M. "Help Wanted?: The Mixed Record of Foreign Fighters in Domestic Insurgencies". International Security 38, no.4 (2014): 150–87. doi:10.1162/ISEC_a_00156.
  • Bakker, Edwin, and Peter Grol. "Motives and Considerations of Potential Foreign Fighters from the Netherlands". (Policy Brief No.3, The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague, July 2015), https://icct.nl/publication/motives-and-considerations-of-potential-foreign-fighters-from-the-netherlands/ (accessed June 20, 2018).
  • Bakker, Edwin, and Roel de Bont. "Belgian and Dutch Jihadist Foreign Fighters (2012–2015): Characteristics, Motivations, and Roles in the War in Syria and Iraq". Small Wars & Insurgencies 27, no.5 (2016): 837–57. doi:10.1080/09592318.2016.1209806.
  • Bie, Jasper L. de, Christianne J. de Poot, and Joanne P. van der Leun. "Shifting Modus Operandi of Jihadist Foreign Fighters From the Netherlands Between 2000 and 2013: A Crime Script Analysis". Terrorism and Political Violence 27, no.3 (2015):416–40. doi:10.1080/09546553.2015.1021038.
  • Byman, Daniel. "The Homecomings: What Happens When Arab Foreign Fighters in Iraq and Syria Return?".Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 38, no.8 (2015): 581–602. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2015.1031556.
  • Campana, Aurélie and Jean-François Ratelle. "A Political Sociology Approach to the Diffusion of Conflict from Chechnya to Dagestan and Ingushetia". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 37, no.2 (2014): 115–34. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2014.862901.
  • Dawson, Lorne L., and Amarnath Amarasingam. "Talking to Foreign Fighters: Insights into the Motivations for Hijrah to Syria and Iraq". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 40, no.3 (2017):191–210. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2016.1274216.
  • Duyvesteyn, Isabelle, and Bram Peeters. "Fickle Foreign Fighters? A Cross-Case Analysis of Seven Muslim Foreign Fighter Mobilisations (1980-2015)" (No. 8, The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, The Hague 6, 2015), https://icct.nl/publication/fickle-foreign-fighters-a-cross-case-analysis-of-seven-muslim-foreign-fighter-mobilisations-1980-2015/ (accessed July 3, 2018).
  • Gurski, Phil. Western Foreign Fighters: The Threat to Homeland and International Security, Rowman & Littlefield. 2017.
  • Güney, Beyza Gülin. Rus Çeçen İlişkileri Bağlamında Çatışma ve İşbirliği Dinamikleri. Istanbul: Cinius Yayınları. 2017.
  • Haner, Murat, Ashley Wichern, and Marissa Fleenor."The Turkish Foreign Fighters and the Dynamics behind Their Flow into Syria and Iraq". Terrorism and Political Violence, (2018):1–19.doi:10.1080/09546553.2018.1471398.
  • Hegghammer, Thomas. "The Rise of Muslim Foreign Fighters: Islam and the Globalization of Jihad". International Security 35, no.3 (2010): 53–94.
  • Holmer, Georgia, and Adrian Shtuni."Returning Foreign Fighters and the Reintegration Imperative". (Special Report No. 402, United States of Institute of Peace, March 2017.) https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2017-03/sr402-returning-foreign-fighters-and-the-reintegration-imperative.pdf (accessed June 16, 2018).
  • Kitagawa, Seiichi. "Çeçenistan’da Savaş Komutanlarından Cemaat Emirlerine Dönüşüm". Kafkasya Stratejik Araştırmalar Merkezi, February 8, 2017, https://kafkassam.com/cecenistanda-savas-komutanlarindan-cemaat-emirlerine-donusum.html (accessed 8 August, 2018)
  • Malet, David. "Foreign Fighter Mobilization and Persistence in a Global Context". Terrorism and Political Violence 27, no.3 (2015): 454–73. doi:10.1080/09546553.2015.1032151.
  • Malet, David. "Why Foreign Fighters? Historical Perspectives and Solutions". Orbis: FPRI’s Journal of World Affairs 54, no.1(2010): 97–114. doi:10.1016/j.orbis.2009.10.007.
  • Malet, David. Foreign Fighters: Transnational Identity in Civil Conflicts.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
  • Mendelsohn, Barak. "Foreign Fighters—Recent Trends". Orbis: FPRI’s Journal of World Affairs 55, no.2 (2011):189–202. doi:10.1016/j.orbis.2011.01.002.
  • Mishali-Ram, Meirav."Foreign Fighters and Transnational Jihad in Syria". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 41, no.3 (2018): 169–90. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2017.1283198.
  • Moore, Cerwyn, and Paul Tumelty. "Foreign Fighters and the Case of Chechnya: A Critical Assessment".Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 31, no.5 (2008): 412–33. doi:10.1080/10576100801993347.
  • Nilsson, Marco. "Foreign Fighters and the Radicalization of Local Jihad: Interview Evidence from Swedish Jihadists". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 38, no.5 (2015): 343–58. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2015.1005459.
  • Pokalova, Elena."Driving Factors behind Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. (2018): 1-21. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2018.1427842.
  • Ratelle, Jean-François."North Caucasian Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Assessing the Threat of Returnees to the Russian Federation". Caucasus Survey 4, no.3 (2016):218–38. doi:10.1080/23761199.2016.1234096.
  • Reynolds, Sean C., and Mohammed M. Hafez. "Social Network Analysis of German Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq". Terrorism and Political Violence, (2017): 1–26. doi:10.1080/09546553.2016.1272456.
  • Sagramoso, Domitilla. "Violence and Conflict in the Russian North Caucasus". International Affairs 83, no.4 (2007): 681–705. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2346.2007.00647.x.
  • Sheikh, Jakob. "I Just Said It. The State": Examining the Motivations for Danish Foreign Fighting in Syria". Perspectives on Terrorism 10, no.6 (2016): 59–67. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26297706.
  • Sole, Sefa, "Kafkasya’da Rus Emperyalizmi ve Kafkas Direnişi", last modified June 25,2016, https://www.stratejikortak.com/2016/06/kafkasya-rusya-kafkas-direnisi.html. (accessed July 20, 2018).
  • Soufan, Ali and Daniel Schoenfeld. "Regional Hotbeds as Drivers of Radicalization". Jihadist Hotbeds: Understanding Local Radicalization Processes, ed. by Arturo Varvelli, 1st ed. (Milano: Novi Ligure (AL): ISPI, 2016)
  • Souleimanov, Emil. "The Caucasus Emirate: Genealogy of an Islamist Insurgency". Middle East Policy 18, no.4 (2011): 155–68. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4967.2011.00517.x. Weiss, Caleb. "Transformative Networks: The Case of North Caucasian and Central Asian Jihadist Networks". Illini Journal of International Security 3, no.1 (2017):37-74, https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/96239/weiss_caleb.pdf?sequence=2
  • Wilhelmsen, Julie. "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Islamisation of the Chechen Separatist Movement". Europe-Asia Studies 57, no.1 (2005): 35–59. https://econpapers.repec.org/article/tafceasxx/v_3a57_3ay_3a2005_3ai_3a1_3ap_3a35-59.htm.
There are 31 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects International Relations
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Beyza Gülin Güney 0000-0002-1773-8445

Publication Date December 30, 2019
Submission Date August 9, 2019
Published in Issue Year 2019 Issue: 9

Cite

APA Güney, B. G. (2019). Explaining Foreign Fighter Mobilization from the North Caucasus to Syria: Historical Legacy, Existing Networks, and Radicalized Identity. Üsküdar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi(9), 241-274. https://doi.org/10.32739/uskudarsbd.5.9.65
AMA Güney BG. Explaining Foreign Fighter Mobilization from the North Caucasus to Syria: Historical Legacy, Existing Networks, and Radicalized Identity. JOSOC. December 2019;(9):241-274. doi:10.32739/uskudarsbd.5.9.65
Chicago Güney, Beyza Gülin. “Explaining Foreign Fighter Mobilization from the North Caucasus to Syria: Historical Legacy, Existing Networks, and Radicalized Identity”. Üsküdar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, no. 9 (December 2019): 241-74. https://doi.org/10.32739/uskudarsbd.5.9.65.
EndNote Güney BG (December 1, 2019) Explaining Foreign Fighter Mobilization from the North Caucasus to Syria: Historical Legacy, Existing Networks, and Radicalized Identity. Üsküdar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 9 241–274.
IEEE B. G. Güney, “Explaining Foreign Fighter Mobilization from the North Caucasus to Syria: Historical Legacy, Existing Networks, and Radicalized Identity”, JOSOC, no. 9, pp. 241–274, December 2019, doi: 10.32739/uskudarsbd.5.9.65.
ISNAD Güney, Beyza Gülin. “Explaining Foreign Fighter Mobilization from the North Caucasus to Syria: Historical Legacy, Existing Networks, and Radicalized Identity”. Üsküdar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 9 (December 2019), 241-274. https://doi.org/10.32739/uskudarsbd.5.9.65.
JAMA Güney BG. Explaining Foreign Fighter Mobilization from the North Caucasus to Syria: Historical Legacy, Existing Networks, and Radicalized Identity. JOSOC. 2019;:241–274.
MLA Güney, Beyza Gülin. “Explaining Foreign Fighter Mobilization from the North Caucasus to Syria: Historical Legacy, Existing Networks, and Radicalized Identity”. Üsküdar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, no. 9, 2019, pp. 241-74, doi:10.32739/uskudarsbd.5.9.65.
Vancouver Güney BG. Explaining Foreign Fighter Mobilization from the North Caucasus to Syria: Historical Legacy, Existing Networks, and Radicalized Identity. JOSOC. 2019(9):241-74.

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