Scientists reveal reasons for radicalization of South-Caucasian youth

Young Georgian Muslims are leaving for war in Syria and Iraq because of social injustice and religious stereotypes, the participants of the forum in Moscow "Youth Against Extremism and Radicalism" told on March 22. The speech of an Azerbaijani presenter was interrupted by a squabble with an Armenian journalist.

Vasily Papava, the Director of the Institute for Middle East and Caucasus Studies from Tbilisi, stated that the war in Chechnya, the events in Syria and the creation of the "Islamic State" (IS) (banned in Russia) contributed to radicalization in Georgia."

According to his story, about 150 Georgian citizens fought for the IS; 30 of them perished.

When they talk about religious extremism, in Georgia, it does not only mean "Islamic radicalism", Archil Sikharulidze, a co-founder and the director of the Centre for Systemic Political Studies, a lecturer at the Department of Political Science of the Tbilisi State University, has noted.

"NGOs are alarmed at the aggressive Orthodox proselytism (the intention to convert others into one's faith, – note of the "Caucasian Knot") in Adjara," he explained, adding, "There is a stereotype that a Georgian should be a Christian Orthodox; while Adjarian Muslims treat this attitude to them as unfair."