85% of Tajiks fighting in Iraq and Syria used to be migrant workers in the Russian Federation - prosecutor general

Almaty. March 29. Silkroadnews - About 85% of Tajiks fighting in the military conflicts in foreign countries used to be migrant workers in Russia, Yusuf Rahmon, prosecutor general of the Republic of Tajikistan, said, Tajik Telegraph Agency (TajikTA) reported on Tuesday.

“About 85% of Tajiks, involved in military conflicts in foreign countries, earlier used to be labor migrants in Russia,” he said in his interview to “Jumhuriyat” newspaper.

According to him, 1.94 thousand Tajiks, most of them Salaphites, are fighting in the ranks of the “Islamic state” in Iraq and Syria.

He also noted that among the Tajiks currently fighting in Syria and Iraq 400 people are the natives of the Khatlon region, 272 people are from Sogd, 254 came from the regions of republican subordination, 139 came from Dushanbe and 26 from the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region of the country (GBAO).

The prosecutor general has emphasized the importance of due awareness-raising work to be carried out among the migrant workers.

He also drew attention to the fact that the call for jihad is one of the key objectives of the “Salafism”, and the majority of citizens of Tajikistan, who joined the “Islamic state” in Syria and Iraq, have initially joined the religious “Salafi” strand.

According to the prosecutor general, taking into account this fact, at the meeting of the law enforcement agencies’ coordinating council held on March 10, 2016, it was decided to boost the joint work of all the law enforcement agencies against the extremist movement’s criminal actions.