France 24 reported that about 150 of our fellow citizens, allegedly members of the same family, went to this Arab republic to wage holy war. On the site was a 20-minute video, which has already been blocked “because of scenes containing violence”, according to Astana TV.

Frames from an Uzbek site http://zamondosh.blogspot.com/ clearly show that there are among them not only men and women, but teenagers and even very young children. There are many of the latter, on the order of 20. All the girls are dressed in niqabs, so it is not possible to determine their nationality at first glance. For almost the whole 20-minute video they speak in the Kazakh language, interspersed with Arabic and Russian.

Additionally, in the video there is a “family photo” of about 60 men, some armed. Apparently, it is the entire male half of the family. Young people, punctuating their speech with words from the Koran, say that they came to wage jihad.

“We came here to wage jihad on Allah’s path, the word of Allah is greatest of all. We yearn for death on this path so that Allah accepts our martyrdom and grants us the Gardens of Eternal Bliss. Only for the sake of this are we here.”

Meanwhile, official information maintains that no citizens of Kazakhstan are involved in the war in Syria. Previously talk was about citizens of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan seen fighting in the Arab country. The Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry has no comment on the content of the video, all they would tell our TV channel was that they are “now working on this issue”. Some Kazakhstan political analysts believe that our citizens are getting into Syria via Turkey, with which Kazakhstan now has a visa-free regime.

Rasul Zhumaly, political scientist: “People can easily buy tickets to Istanbul. There they can already meet with interested parties, and be boarded in apartments… It is clear that there were people, emissaries, who have been persuading them, convincing them of this necessary path, of participating in jihad… Somehow they are transported across the border. There is an established system, a mechanism, in place now.”

Representatives of several mosques in the Karaganda region, which are part of the Muslim Spiritual Association of Kazakhstan, say that some locals have gone to Syria “for the sake of waging jihad”.

“A few days ago some parents whose children went to Syria came to our mosque. Three of their sons had suddenly picked up and left for Syria, about a year ago we think. One of the sons left with his wife. The second son's wife stayed here, while the third son was unmarried. The parents do not know if they are still alive. As a matter of fact, there are other parents who come here in tears. They come here once a week, asking for a prayer to be read,” said a representative of the mosque in the city of Zhezkazgan, who asked not to be named.

According to the Imam for the city of Satpayev, in March about ten local residents left for Syria. For this reason, since spring there has been intensified advocacy and outreach so that no others leave for Syria, said the imam.

Theologian and attorney Mukan Isahan confirmed this. This spring the specialist was in the cities of Zhezkazgan and Satpayev in the course of his scientific research. During a meeting with local residents he learned that “forty people have gone to Syria.” According to him, young people have been asking religious leaders if they can wage jihad.

Whole families of Kazakhs are going to Syria for jihad

In June of this year, Nurtai Abykayev, chief of the Kazakhstan Security Service, said that there are about 100 Kazakhs on the Afghan-Pakistan border. He also said that there is information about others fighting in Syria.

Asia Times Online in July wrote that it was not until June 2013 that the security services detained eight who intended to go fight in the war in Syria.

Expert Timur Kozyrev, in an interview with one of the local Internet portals, said that the attention of “domestic jihadists” is now focused on Syria. According to him, hundreds of citizens of Kazakhstan are fighting on the rebel side. Among them are followers of Khalil Abdujabbarov and Sayeed Buryat, who a few years ago were in Kazakhstan preaching about the Takfir movement, he said.

Kyrgyz expert Kadyr Malikov says that the number of jihadists in Central Asia, if not increasing, is not decreasing either. According to him, internal factors such as illiteracy and a weak educational system promote this. There are also external factors at work, such as an increase in various religious groups in Central Asia.

“This is common situation in many countries. The state has already missed the time when these developments could be stopped. Now they are very difficult to control.”

“There is a lot of information about the appearance of various followers of Jamaat in northern Kyrgyzstan, but now, however, they are in our south and there are already enough in Kazakhstan. The worst thing, unfortunately, is that the ideology of jihad gradually pulls in criminal elements. That is, there is a mix of criminal and religious factors. This, however, interferes with the economy, business and politics,” he said.

Malikov notes that when there is obvious religious radicalization, prophylaxis is more effective.

Earlier the state security service of Kyrgyzstan reported that Kazakh citizen Sergei Leskevich had been arrested. He “had been trained in Syria and intended to commit a bombing in Kyrgyzstan.”

A former employee of the Kyrgyz security service, who asked not to be identified, told Azattyk that it is possible that there is another reason why Kazakhstan citizens are going to Syria to wage jihad.

“First off, certain leaders of several religious groups supported allowing them to leave Kazakhstan. They thought that the problem would be solved right away and that these groups would no longer be a headache for Kazakhstan, but for other countries. As a result, this situation has evolved.”

“Over the past few years, hundreds of people were convicted as members of terrorist groups in Kazakhstan. Most of them came from the western region of Kazakhstan. A number of international organizations and local human rights activists are concerned that the police and national security services use torture on detained members of religious groups.”

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