Security services focus on countering violent ideologies through religious education, rehabilitation and community policing
SALTANAT BERDIKEEVA
Threats from extremist ideologies and terrorism have increased in Kyrgyzstan in recent years. If Kyrgyzstan’s problems were previously limited to containing the spread of violent extremist propaganda and infiltration of foreign terrorist groups across the border — such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan that clashed with Kyrgyz security forces in 1999 in southern Kyrgyzstan — it now deals with issues closer to home.
The small Central Asian nation is trying to figure out how to rehabilitate citizens who returned after fighting in wars in Syria and Iraq on the side of the so-called Islamic State and what to do with hundreds of people arrested in Kyrgyzstan on charges of extremism and terrorism.
It’s working to stymie online recruitment by extremist groups without resorting to problematic bans on internet usage. Finally, recognizing a growing religiosity in society in the post-Soviet era, Kyrgyz authorities have sponsored programs to highlight an interpretation of Islam incompatible with terrorist violence.
Rehabilitating fighters
Religious ignorance and unemployment played a large role in the recruitment of Kyrgyzstanis to fight in Syria and Iraq, according to Rakhat Suleymanov, representative of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (GKNB). Extremists used the internet to recruit these vulnerable Kyrgyzstanis and offered them money as an inducement. A new challenge confronting Kyrgyzstan is repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration of these citizens and their dependents.
Kyrgyzstan has advocated a comparatively tolerant approach to reintegrating former fighters into society. Although Kyrgyzstani law designates prison sentences of five to eight years for participating in foreign wars and eight to 15 years for being a mercenary, courts can consider extenuating circumstances for defendants, such as a desire to cooperate with authorities or whether the person was directly involved in fighting.
Some Kyrgyzstanis have returned from war zones to reestablish normal lives in their former communities and neighborhoods with the help of GKNB and other state agencies. GKNB strictly monitors returnees during a probationary period that requires they remain in the country.
Efforts to deal with the threat of religious extremism have not been limited to the central government. Local police stations and individual district authorities routinely organize community meetings and discussions in mosques, schools and public centers to prevent religious radicalization. Some returnees have participated in such meetings to share what they went through in war zones and to warn members of their communities about dangers of joining extremist groups.
Because rehabilitation and reintegration of families returning from war zones and extremist groups is new to Kyrgyzstan, the country is learning from the experiences of its neighbors. It has taken concerted efforts and considerable financial and human resources (including psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers and schoolteachers) to restore former fighters to normal life in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Because Kyrgyz authorities expect more people to return from Syria and Iraq, it is pooling its own resources to come up with comprehensive rehabilitation programs.
Preventing recruitment in prisons
Rehabilitation and reintegration are only a part of Kyrgyzstan’s effort to fight extremism and terrorism. It is also trying to figure out what to do with people convicted of inciting or participating in extremist or terrorist activities in Kyrgyzstan. Authorities initially staked out a tough position on regarding possession of extremist literature, but the Kyrgyz parliament began revising the criminal code to soften punishment for possessing such material. These days, possession results more often in fines than imprisonment.
Kyrgyz authorities realize prisons can become fertile grounds for recruitment to violent religious sects. As is typical around the world, young people make up a disproportionate number of the incarcerated, and 77% of them were unemployed when arrested. Prison recruiters offer romanticized visions of the future to struggling young people, who convince themselves they are fighting for justice and God, Kyrgyzstan’s law enforcement agencies say.
To combat prison brainwashing, religious scholars from the Spiritual Administration of Muslims in Kyrgyzstan lecture prisoners about Islam and its peaceful teachings once or twice a month. In early 2019, the Spiritual Administration enlisted two full-time theologians with the goal of improving counterterrorism messaging among prisoners.
Countering online propaganda
Prisons are not the only sources of recruitment for religious extremists and terrorists. According to the Anti-Terrorist Center of the State Committee for National Security, recruitment, dissemination of propaganda, fundraising and preparation of militants are actively carried out through the internet. Training in terrorist tactics and coordinating criminal activities often take place through instant messenger apps, such as WhatsApp and Viber. According to a study of online violent extremism in Central Asia, Facebook and Telegram are some of the commonly used propaganda and recruitment tools for terrorists.
Kyrgyzstan blocked more than 100 websites with extremist and terrorist content in recent years. But religious experts believe that online recruitment of young people through social networks and websites continues. Kyrgyz sources estimate that Central Asians are exposed to at least 500 websites with violent extremist content. Although blocking such websites is still a common practice in Central Asian countries, regional experts say that may not be the most effective way to solve the problem because of the difficulty of controlling online information.
Asomiddin Atoyev, head of the Civic Internet Initiative Policy in Kyrgyzstan and an expert on online violent extremism, stressed the importance of providing proper education to inoculate people against online radicalization. People with a firm grasp of traditional Islam will know the difference between its peaceful message and extremist distortions.
Orozbek Moldaliyev, former chairman of the State Commission for Religious Affairs of Kyrgyzstan, bemoaned the shortage of financial and human resources in his country to monitor nonviolent websites and social networks that tend to exhibit violent propaganda. According to Kyrgyz religious expert Aman Saliyev, Kyrgyz authorities need to catch up with the online activity of terrorist groups. This is a challenge to countries around the world that were caught off guard by the rapid rise of ISIS and its mastery of internet propaganda and recruitment.
Measures against extremism and terrorism
The Kyrgyz government’s program to counter extremism and terrorism for the period of 2017-2022, an important part of the National Security Concept of the Kyrgyz Republic approved by a presidential decree in 2012, provides measures to deal with these problems.
The program emphasizes conducting informational campaigns in mosques with participation of prominent religious figures, local officials and law enforcement agencies. It also places importance on organizing lectures, seminars and discussions about threats of extremism and terrorism for law enforcement agencies, representatives of local governments, universities and the media. The Kyrgyz government will provide similar training to military units.
Another priority is launching counterideological campaigns by distributing anti-extremist and
anti-terrorist videos on the internet and in the media. An important component of this effort is launching thematic pages on social media with counterextremist and counterterrorist messages.
Secondary schools in Kyrgyzstan have introduced courses on religious themes to minimize the vulnerability of teenagers to radical ideas. With the growing role of religion in society, religious experts and security professionals in Kyrgyzstan agree that educating young people about religion, improving the competency of imams, and organizing informational campaigns focused on peaceful teachings of Islam will help fill a religious vacuum in the country and reduce the spread of fringe ideologies.
There is growing chorus of voices in the country that the Spiritual Administration of Muslims should play a more active educational role. Although the changes are slow, the Spiritual Administration has stepped up its informational campaign about peaceful teachings of Islam, including training border guards about key tenets of Islam to help them identify extremists arriving from abroad.
Modernizing the existing Islamic educational system in Kyrgyzstan is a key part of the National Development Strategy for 2018-2040. Islamic education centers sponsored by the state would aid the creation of a Muslim intelligentsia less prone to extremist ideology from abroad.
For much of the last century, religion was discouraged and dormant in Soviet-run Kyrgyzstan. Today, the state is trying to embrace the growing role of religion in the country and nudge society toward the peaceful teachings of Islam. Such efforts will help not only provide a sound understanding of Islam, but also limit radicalization among people who are more attuned to religion than they were 30 years ago.
About the author: Saltanat Berdikeeva is a Kyrgyzstan-born author, analyst and blogger on the topics of economics, energy policy and security in Central Asia, the Middle East and the United States.
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