Description
The present article aims to examine the participation of Georgian Azerbaijanis in the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts. More precisely, the paper aims to explore the reasons for the unsuccessful jihadi mobilisation among Georgian Azerbaijanis. The research draws on the concept of transnational diffusion and analyses the factors that prevented the spread of jihadi narratives and mobilisation of transnational insurgents from the particular ethnoreligious community or geographic area. The first part of the paper will discuss the conceptual and methodological aspects of the research. It will be followed by the contextual section, providing a piece of background information on the previous encounter of Georgian Azerbaijanis with Salafism and jihadi groups. It will overview the existing Salafi groups among this ethnic group, as well as the impact of transnational Islamist movements of North Caucasus or neighbouring Azerbaijan. The final part will discuss the chief constraints that prevented the mass mobilisation, bringing together the findings and discussing the issues of ineffective mobilisation.
