Azerbaijani political analysts note decrease of extremist sentiments in the country

In Azerbaijan, the number of those willing to join international terrorist organizations has recently gone down, the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" said in their comments on the detention in Turkey of three Azerbaijani citizens, suspected of links with Syrian militants.

Five alleged members of the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS) (banned in Russia by the court, – note of the "Caucasian Knot"), wearing suicide belts, were detained in the Turkish province of Kilis, near the border with Syria. They are three Azerbaijani citizens and two citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Turkish edition "Milliyet" reported on June 15.

Power agents suggest that the detainees had plotted terror acts in Turkey, the edition has specified.

Turkey has earlier seen detentions of Azerbaijani citizens on suspicion of terrorism, said Tofiq Tyurkel, an observer on religious issues of the agency "Turan". However, according to his version, over the past year and a half, the number of attempts of Azerbaijani citizens to join militants in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan has significantly decreased.

"The authorities state that these attempts have stopped altogether, but I would not state it so unequivocally: Earlier, the jihadists, who had been recruited from Azerbaijan, made themselves public more often in social networks on the Internet. Now, it happens less frequently. Most likely, those, who had left earlier, appear on the Internet," said Mr Turkel, an expert.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.