Стр. 26 - V

Электронное приложение к журналу «Международная жизнь»
Author : Arif Asalioglu
Director General, International Institute of the Development of Science Cooperation (MIRNaS)
RADICAL GROUPS have always exploited, and continue to exploit, re-
ligion, ethnicity, ideology, and lack of education to sustain their influence.
Radicalism deforms social environments in which it emerges. As a result,
radical terrorist organizations existing in a specific society interact not only
with one another. They do not only create their own social base but help
build the social base for a political opposition, thereby setting off signif-
icant social transformations.
Today, when one's every movement can be traced, it would be naïve to
assume that intelligence services, and hence governments, may be unaware
of the existence of terrorist organizations and the plotting of major ter-
rorist attacks.
Terrorism is used as a means to achieve major national, regional, and
global objectives. If a country plans an operation against another country or against a region, it activates
terrorist organizations set up on the territory of the target country or region, and then moves its troops
into it, using terrorism to make such intervention appear "legitimate."
RADICAL ORGANIZATIONS that were set up a while ago on an ethnic or a religious basis on ter-
ritories comparatively close to us have become so robust and enjoy so much public support that they
can no longer be ignored.
RADICALISM with the mass-scale violence that it involves is one of dozens of problems stemming
from the past.. It would be a fair conclusion that the geopolitical evolution of the Middle East toward
radicalism was set off by power collapse in Iraq and accelerated by Syria and Libya effectively becoming
failed states as well. Yemen may be put in the same category - although there were signals that the coun-
try might launch reforms, it was unable to evade a civil war.
Besides its visible part, the radicalization trend based in the Middle East has created a global ideology
that is adopted by terrorist organizations outside the region and to an extent is a source of inspiration
for them.
The absence of efficient state security systems in Middle Eastern countries facilitates the emergence
and growth of non-state entities. The gradual weakening of what until a while ago had been powerful
security forces in Iraq and today's deplorable condition of that country is the best example. Turkey,
which lies nearby, should try hard to preserve the potential of its security forces. One more problem
in the Middle East is the estrangement of the population, which, having no access to a range of services,
does not see itself as part of government protection mechanism and so is exploited by non-state enti-
ties.
Let us not forget either that Turkey had a similar experience in the 1990s when people who were driven
into radicalism by the activities of the Kurdistan Workers' Party rallied around Hezbollah and later
came to represent a terrorist threat to the entire country. And, moreover, the example of Pakistan shows
us that a country caught in a whirlwind of terrorism and radicalism may spend years upon years looking
for a way to restore stability.
The Middle East in the Deadlock of Radicalism