Neighbouring an insurgency: the case of radicalization in Georgia

Abstract

In 2013, international news headlines started referencing Georgian Tarkhan Batirashvili, or Omar al-Shishani, as a rising star among foreign fighters in the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). At the time, it was puzzling why a Georgian Kist would fight for ISIS. However, following al-Shishani, around 200 other residents of Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge travelled to Syria and Iraq. The trend raised numerous questions about radicalization in this country with very limited experience with terrorism. This article examines why so many Pankisi Kists departed for Syria and Iraq. Specifically, we analyse the impact of the neighbouring insurgencies in the North Caucasus and examine how the Chechen conflicts shaped the emergence of radicalism in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge. The article traces how the movement of individuals, equipment and ideas to and from Chechnya impacted the Muslim identity of the local population in Pankisi.