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services of state health care. Crisis made disproportionately strong impact on already vulnerable households. It was promoted not only by increased competition at the market of unskilled labour also by unreasonable demand for public services, but also that fact that a half of refugees lived in a third of the poorest regions of the country. According to calculations of the World Bank, owing to the Syrian conflict the share of the population living in poverty by the end of 2014 made 3.9%. Poor people in Lebanon became even poorer. Thus the war in Syria aggravated already intense internal situation in intercommunal relations in Lebanon.
The Syrian conflict first being of internal orientation very quickly gained cross-border, regional character and moved to the international level. Parallel to this trend it became more complicated and got more and more long form. Its destructive cumulative impact on economy, infrastructure, food systems, agricultural industry, social institutes and in general on ability of people to overcome shocks increased. Huge humanitarian losses of war in Syria is a misfortune not only of its citizens, it is spread over the borders and continents as echo.
2019.02.014. Naima Nefliasheva. HOW "NEW MUHAJIRS" FROM RUSSIA LIVE IN TURKEY. MIGRATION OF RUSSIAN MUSLIMS IN THE 2000s // "Azia i Afrika segodnya," Moscow, 2018, № 8, P. 27-34.
Keywords: Turkey, Russia, North Caucasus, temporary migration of Russian Muslims, "new muhajirs" Islam.
Naima Nefliasheva,
PhD(History), Associate Professor, Institute of African Studies RAS
The article analyzes the reasons for the migration of Russian Muslims to Turkey, and singles out groups of so-called "new muhajirs."
The researcher notes that Russian Muslims began to arrive in Turkey back in the 1990s, in the period of the Chechen wars, and in the 2000s. Among the Muslim arrivals to Turkey from Russia in 2013-2015 about ten percent did it due to their sympathies for radical groups and also for going further to the Islamic state. A group of Muslims adhering to radical views is concentrated in Istanbul and in some provincial towns. A flow of these people from Daghestan in the North Caucasus markedly increased in 2012-2016. Another group consists of Muslims who arrived in Turkey to do business, and they are free from religious or psychological grounds. And the most numerous group comes due to socio-psychological and religious reasons.
"New muhajirs" is the name of Muslims from Russia who have emigrated to Turkey in the 2000s and later. The name is related to the resettlement of the Prophet Mohammed and his followers from Mecca to Medina and reason for resettlement was the failure of the many-year ceremony in the home-town. A search for followers outside his native city brought Mohammed to an agreement with the Arabs, who recognized him their arbiter and leader. He led his community from the narrow bounds of just one tribe, having created conditions for turning it into a state and elaborated a religious doctrine. See: Al-Hijra. Moscow, Nauka Publishers, 1991, p. 278.
Among those who emigrate are mainly men, young families with children of pre-school or school age, widows of militant fighters killed during anti-terrorist operations. The average age of these migrants is 30-40. A relative economic welfare of "new muhajirs" in Turkey is also a weighty factor in adopting the decision to emigrate. Turkey is considered a well-to-do country, comfortable enough for Muslims
The socialization and integration of Russian Muslims in Turkey, the author writes, begins with their legal status. The country's Law on Foreigners and International Protection (2014) in accordance with the standards of the European Union and international legal standards determines the rules of the stay of
non-residents on Turkish territory, the rules of entry in the country, procedure of issuing visas and residence permits, as well as the order of deportation. In connection with the developments in Syria and the flows of refugees to Turkey the law pays special attention to refugees and their migration rights. The status of illegal migrant, according to Law is given not only to those who have crossed the border without the necessary documents, but also to foreigners with overdue visa, residence permit, or permission to work.
Muhajirs preferred, upon the expiry of their visa-free stay in Turkey lasting 60 days, to get another, short-term stay up to two years, which could be prolonged for one more year.
Almost all muhajirs from Russia stay in Turkey on tourist visas, which does not give them the right to work.
The muhajirs working officially are socially secured, have medical insurance for the entire family, and get regular payment in case of sickness. But such muhajirs are few and far between due to a complex procedure of getting permission to work, as well as a high competition with native Turks in all spheres of work - from agriculture to high technologies. Most "new muhajirs" work illegally: open small restaurants and cafes, work as waiters, truck drivers delivering pizzas, at car-service depos, at construction sites, etc. Women, as a rule, do not work, sometimes offer their hand as baby-sitters or old people helpers. Only very few muhajirs enroll Turkish colleges or universities and got stipends and, ultimately, corresponding degrees.
The author of this article mentions one of the attempts to create an intellectual product with the use of Russian muhajirs, which was called "Salamword," or social network for Muslims, which was planned to be started in 2012. The project was headed by the President of the Islamic Cultural Center of Russia - Social Wing of the Council of Muftis of Russia Abdul Wahel Niyazov. A considerable portion of the capital for its organization and development was granted by private investors from Russia and Kazakhstan. The sponsors of the project at first positioned it as a
platform for an alternative life of Muslims in the virtual area sans frontiers. This system was supposed to function in English, Arabic, Persian Turkish, Russian, French, Urdu, Malay and Indonesian languages, and will become not only a social network for Muslims, but also a place for public discussions, and source of information for Muslims, as well as an instrument of transformation and development of Muslim communities. At present this project has been frozen.
The project of the first free Islamic Russian-language on-line academy "Medina" proved more successful. Its author and director is the former mufti of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alanya Ali Khaji Evteyev. The Academy began to function in September 2017. It has three educational stages - school, institute and courses in special fields. A week later after its opening the Academy had already 2,500 students from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, and other countries. Most students - 34.6 percent - are young men of 22-29 years of age. The "Medina" presents a complex Islamic program, that is, teaches tafsir, sire, khadis, Islamic ethics (adab), Arabic, etc. Each student of the Academy may choose a curriculum on one of three maskhabs - Hanafite, Shafiite and Khanbalit. The student body of the Academy, upon graduation, will become imams, madrasah teachers, and simply persons well-versed in Islam.
Their language adaptation passes, as a rule, without any special problems. Turkey grants broad opportunities to foreign students studying the Turkish language: there are special language courses in each district of Istanbul, in some of them there are several such courses. The government-run Turkish language courses are better and more expensive. Muhajirs usually prefer courses with symbolic prices attached to public /organizations. There are also special language courses for women and men at the organization of Russian-language women-muhajir - the Women's Club "Ummah."
The Turkish legislation, this author emphasizes, presupposes registration of public organizations without red tape, which makes
it possible for muhajir to organize them selves more rapidly. The most active and effective is the registered and free organization of Russian-language Muslim women entitled "Source of Knowledge" in Istanbul, which renders consultations on the problems of living, medical service, education, and other vital problems
Within the past two years public organizations of Russian-language women-Muslims appeared in Istanbul. They are engaged in setting up various courses, arrange charity functions, etc. Women-muhajir organized the Islamic Education Center Al-Huda, which functioned in 2015-2016. At a Muslim school children studied the ABCs of Islam and the Koran, khadis, siru, tafsir, as well as mathematics, Russian and literature, biology and the surrounding world. The school had to close down periodically due to a shortage of money. Muhajir also tried to open their kindergarten, where children could study the Koran, and the Russian and Arabic languages.
In September 2017, a congress of public organizations of muhajirs of Russia, Egypt, Central Asia, Turkey, Mali and Ghana was held in Istanbul. Its participants emphasized that the basic problems facing the muhajirs are the legalization of their stay in Turkey, medical aid, education, cases of deportation, and unfounded persecution of the Turkish special services. At the congress a decision was adopted to set up a Federation of public organizations of settlers under the name "Dunua Muhacirler Federasyonu" (Federation of Muhajir of the World).
In conclusion, the author of the article puts forward a question: "Is the name 'New Muhajirs' well-founded enough for Russian migrants to Turkey?"
It is a known fact that those who call themselves "muhajir" have business in Russia and freely travel from one country to another. Today it is quite possible to talk about a further increase of the migration flow of Russian Muslims to Turkey. This researcher asserts that emigration of Russian Muslims to Turkey reflects a serious methodological problem, namely, their presence in the official political discourse of non-working categories of
"traditional Islam" and "new Islam," as well as "traditional clergy." The Islamic policy of Russia has no approach to the "new Muslims and methods of their integration in political and social life, as well as the use of them as a resource of social stabilization. Actions in Daghestan, Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria, and the Volga Area in the form of closing mosques, apprehension of Muslims with great beards or purdah, bans on some Muslim books, tend to make the "new Muslims" emigrate from Russia to Turkey. In connection with the economic crisis and the deterioration of the standard of living in the Muslim republics of the North Caucasus the migration of Muslims to Turkey from this region will grow, Neflyasheva concludes.
Author of the abstract - Valentina Schensnovich
OLGA BIBIKOVA. UYGHUR JIHAD IN CHINA AND SYRIA //
The article was written for the bulletin "Russia and the Moslem World."
DOI: 10.31249/rmw/2019.02.03
Keywords: the Uyghurs, Han, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, separatism, jihad, "Turkistan Islamic Movement," "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham."
Olga Bibikova,
PhD(History),
Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS
Abstract: Muslim Uyghurs live in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. In this area separatist sentiments are strong. In recent years Uyghur radicals will often organize acts of terrorism. Several thousands of Uyghurs are involved in military operations in Syria on the side of opposition. They consider their participation as a training for struggle for independence.
