Pankisi Gorge in the Context of Terrorist Network: New Challenges
Keywords:
Pankisi Gorge, crisis, network terrorism, terrorist safe heaven, terrorist hub, kists, WahhabismAbstract
The Pankisi Gorge remote region of the Republic of Georgia has become the focus of much international attention after the Russian-Chechen wars (First war: 1994-1996, second war: 1999-2000). The gorge is located just south of the Georgian-Chechen border in the Georgian district of Akhmeta. Today most of the inhabitants of the Pankisi region are descendants of ethnic Chechens and Ingush who together with kists share the common ethnonym of Vainakh. The kists, who are typically bilingual, and the number of inhabitants varies from 3000-10000. The radicalization processes as well as terrorist heaven image or stigma of the Pankisi Gorge will be discussed in the article through the lens of spillover of the civil wars, as well as terrorist safe heaven theoretical approaches.
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