Dagestanis who studied in Syria return home because of riots

Many residents of Dagestan, who studied Islam in Syria, were forced to return to Russia. According to some of them, they were not oppressed by local power agents.

According to Abdulkarim Magomedov, a member of the Council of Alims of Dagestan, who is also an employee of the canonical division of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of Dagestan, quite a lot of Dagestan residents study in Syria, as it is much easier to make all the documents required for living and studying in this country than elsewhere abroad.

Mr Magomedov said that he was also among those who had to return home due to the unstable situation in Syria. "We had studied in Damascus for 3 months. When the situation in the country was almost out of authorities' control, we went to the rector of the university and asked his advice on what to do. He told us that it would be better for the whole group to return back home," said Abdulkarim Magomedov.

Israil Akhmednabiev, better known as Abu Umar, who had studied in Syria for more than ten years, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Dagestanis were not purposefully persecuted in Syria as foreign students; however the situation there was unstable, and because of this he and his family preferred to return to Russia for safety reasons.

According to Akhmednabiev and Magomedov, they were not oppressed by power agents neither in Syria, nor on their return home.