Der Islam in Zentralasien. Droht eine extremistische Radikalisierung?

The region of Central Asia has increasingly become the focus of public interest as a bridge between the Middle East, Russia, and Asia since the International Security Assistance Force’s (ISAF) withdrawal from Afghanistan. The international strategic importance of the five Central Asian states Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan is great. But how stable is the region? Is a new foreign-policy flashpoint emerging there?

The GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies and the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH), two Hamburg institutes, wish to assess the prospects for security in Central Asia. They cordially invite you to a series of round-table discussions made up of a selected group of representatives from politics, academia, the military, the media, and civil society.

Part III:

Islam in Central Asia. Is There A Threat of Extremist Radicalisation?

Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Central Asian republics have experienced dra-matic political, social, and economic upheavals. These have been accompanied by identity crises, as part of which Islam has taken on greater relevance as a common point of reference. Like the case in the Middle East crises, political Islamism is seen especially by the youth as an outlet for social protest and intergenerational conflict. Are repressive regimes and economic problems creating a breeding ground for fundamentalism and extremism?

Particularly Wahhabi Salafism – a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam supported by Saudi Arabia – has fallen on fertile ground here to date. It is through Salafism that al-Qaida and, more recently, the “Islamic State” in Syria and Iraq have recruited their fighters. This raises the ques-tion of whether these groups’ regional offshoots will make the former Soviet republics into the next site of jihadist terror.

The third GIGA/IFSH round-table discussion will analyse the role of Islam in Central Asia, the potential danger of extremist Islamist trends, and the impacts on international security. This also raises the question of whether and how the international community should and can influence the situation.

Speaker: Christine Rosenberger (Zentralasienreferat, Auswärtiges Amt) Dr. Stephan Rosiny (GIGA) Dr. Andrea Schmitz (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik) Dr. Arne C. Seifert (IFSH)

Moderation: Dr. Annette Ranko (GIGA)