Rebranding the Salafi-Jihadi Extremism

Andreea Stoian Karadeli

Rebranding the Salafi-Jihadi Extremism

Tracing Daesh from Syria and Iraq to Türkiye and Europe

Table of Contents

1. List of Figures

2. List of Tables

3. Introduction

4. Chapter 1

   The Historical Evolution of Terrorism Leading to Daesh

5. Chapter 2

   The Daesh Phenomenon

6. Chapter 3

   The Geopolitics of Terrorism: Türkiye’s Position at the Nexus of Regional Conflicts

7. Chapter 4

   Daesh in Türkiye: A Tale of Many Narratives

8. Chapter 5

   The Daesh Challenge for Türkiye and the EU: Converging Threats, Diverging Responses

9. Conclusion

10. Bibliography

11. Annex 1. Partitioning of Anatolia by the Treaty of Sevres 1920 (Reed, 1924)

12. Annex 2. Main Centres and Groups in the Daesh Network in Türkiye

13. Annex 3. Various Routes Taken by Foreign Terrorist Fighters to Arrive in Syria

14. Annex 4. Map of the Transit Routes Between Türkiye and Syria

15. Annex 5. Two Primary Routes of Foreign Terrorist Fighters Transiting Through Türkiye on Their Way to Syria

Figures

1. Figure 1: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in his first official public appearance, at a mosque in the centre of Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on 5 July 2014

2. Figure 2: Image of the ISIS structure from a presentation video, created and published by the organisation, after the declaration of the Caliphate

3. Figure 3: CNN, Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium

4. Figure 4: One page from the document found in al-Khlifawi’s home, which includes the organisation chart of the regions of the self-proclaimed caliphate, released by Spiegel Germany

5. Figure 5: Original receipt given by the representatives of the Daesh ‘Ministry of Agriculture’, for the payment of taxes

6. Figure 6: Original Number of foreign fighters in Syria by country. (ICSR, 2017)

7. Figure 7: The evolution of terrorism in Türkiye 1970–2017 (NCSTRT, 2018)

8. Figure 8: Foreign terrorist fighters in Syria/Iraq, estimates 2014–2015 (European Parliament Research Service, 2016)

9. Figure 9: Global audience of online pages with jihadist content (Statista, 2017)

10. Figure 10: Daesh attacks targeting Türkiye according to the personal database

11. Figure 11: The presence of Daesh in Türkiye (Stein, 2016)

12. Figure 12: Count of no. of attacks by year and country for Türkiye

13. Figure 13: Count of no. of attacks for Türkiye by target 2014–2021

14. Figure 14: Attacks by target and geographical location for Türkiye

15. Figure 15: Geographical location of the complex attacks for Türkiye

16. Figure 16: The phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters in Syria and Iraq, at the end of 2014 (Soufan Group, 2017)

17. Figure 17: Foreign Terrorist Fighters in Syria and Iraq 2014–2015 (Soufan Group, 2015)

18. Figure 18: Foreign terrorist fighters by region of origin (Soufan Group, 2017)

19. Figure 19: Profile elements of foreign terrorist fighters from the European Union (ICCT, 2016)

20. Figure 20: Victims of attacks European Union and Türkiye

21. Figure 21: Sum of attack by type of attack in European Union and Türkiye

22. Figure 22: Sum of attack by type of attack in European Union and Türkiye

23. Figure 23: The article from the ‘Just terror tactics’ column, published in Rumiyah

Tables

1. Table 1: Ideological difference point of view Daesh and al-Qaeda

2. Table 2: Number of foreign fighters/foreign terrorist fighters (Fainberg, 2017)

3. Table 3: Number of foreign fighters and countries (Fainberg, 2017)

4. Table 4: Comparison of Daesh attacks in Turkey and European Union States

5. Table 5: Comparison for vehicle attacks

Introduction

The history of terrorism is common to the history of humanity, dating from the time of the first communities of people. Terrorism seems to perfectly embody the legend of the Phoenix bird resurrecting from its ashes, each time stronger, more challenging, and more difficult to fight. Paradoxically, just like the Phoenix bird, terrorist groups are not entirely defeated, and they always find the opportunity to come back in a new form.

One of the latest and most feared forms of the terrorist phenomenon, الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام / ‘al-Dawla al-Islamiyya fi al-Iraq and al-Sham’ / Daesh / Islamic State of Iraq and Sham / ISIS / Islamic State of Iraq and Levant / ISIL / the Islamic States / IS has evolved as a terrorist organisation adapted to the opportunities of modern society. Daesh has set a precedent for all religious-inspired terrorist organisations in general, and Salafi-jihadists in particular by self-proclaiming the Islamic Caliphate on 29 June 2014.

Daesh is an embodiment of jihadism that was reinvented in a form adapted to the contemporary society, fully aware of the potential offered by the development of technology and means of communication and using them to its advantage. The evolution of this terrorist organisation together with its short, medium, but especially long-term consequences represent a subject that needs to be analysed contextually and understood in the smallest detail to develop an effective strategy against it. So far, the international community has tended to consider itself all-knowing against the adversary in the fight against terrorism, and this has had devastating consequences. Standing as a perfect example, the present case of Daesh is a direct result of an unfortunate set of decisions taken using a superficial knowledge of the phenomenon together with a late response against the organisation in its previous forms, both elements favouring its evolution.

At present, the organisation is territorially defeated, but, withdrawn in insurgency and branched at global level, it continues to represent a threat to international security in different forms: through its presence in conflict zones or in regions with deteriorating security and stability, through affiliated terrorist organisations, through declared members and hidden supporters, through the reorganisation into clandestine forms that make it difficult to track, through the ‘virtual Islamic Caliphate’ that has been active in the online environment, and through the discourse that continues to attract and radicalise.

As such, the fight against Daesh has not come to an end, the organisation perfectly reflecting a complex phenomenon that must be understood in depth, with all its global ramifications, in physical and online environment.