Islamic Radicalization in Georgia: Integration, Identity and Religion
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1802290sKeywords:
Georgia, Islam, integration, identity, radicalization, religionAbstract
Muslim community of Georgia is the largest religious minority in the state that yet struggles to be at least partially represented and integrated to a wider local society. It is spread all over the state, every region having its own challenges and issues on the ground. And still, there is a common tendency toward general alienation from the Christian majority and attempts, especially by the Muslim youth, to look for external opportunities, actors and groups to join, attach to. This became obvious to a great degree when some members of the local Muslim community fled to Iraq and Syria to participate in a ‘jihad’ launched by ISIS and to build worldwide Islamic ‘umma’. The paper argues that Georgian Muslims are not mainly keen to radicalize but if they do, there are three factors contributing: lack of general integration to a wider Georgian society, identity crisis determined by embedded formula ‘to be Georgian means to be Orthodox Christian’ and internal religious rivalry between “traditional” and Salafi branches of the Islam. Additionally, radicalized groups frequently consist of youngsters who are especially vulnerable to these factors and do not see opportunities for self-determination and self-expression on the ground.
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