Islamism in Central Asia

In his new book, Michael Lüders focuses, in particular, on the states of Central Asia: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. He analyses why there are radical Islamic movements in these regions and how highly flammable flashpoints come about there

The anti-terror coalition is a motley crew. It encompasses states that are considered to be run by unjust or illegal regimes and that are a far cry from democracy and the rule of law. Take, for example, the five Central Asian republics with which the USA has intensified co-operation since 11 September. In the aftermath of 11 September, the authoritarian presidents of these states became allies of the West.

The home affairs of these countries, their disrespect for human rights and democratic structures and rules are the subject of Tee im Garten Timurs (unofficial translation: 'Tea in Timur's Garden') written by the political scientist and Islam expert, Michael Lüders, and published by Arche-Verlag.

As far as Lüders is concerned, the Central Asian region with its five republics is the 'geographical continuation of the Middle East'. It threatens to become part of a continuous arc of conflicts that stretches from Israel and Palestine to Pakistan and India. An arc of conflict that the author describes as a 'zone of endemic violence of indefinite fronts'.

The threat of social explosion

In Lüders' eyes, the policy pursued by the USA since 11 September has not done justice to critical developments. The author too is critical. As he sees it, the neo-conservative American government's definition of freedom is a 'morality of weapons that seeks not a balance but the reinforcement of existing supremacy'. This is why the American government is consciously co-operating with unjust or illegal regimes like that of the Tajiki president Rakhmonov.

In the author's eyes, Tajikistan is – like Afghanistan – a key region in terms of future political developments. Tajikistan is considered the poorhouse of Central Asia: some 80 per cent of the population live in abject poverty.

One third – or maybe even half – of Tajikistan's national income stems from trading drugs from Afghanistan to Europe. Senior government civil servants, members of the security forces and the military line their pockets with money from this trade. Lüders is convinced that in view of the impoverishment of the country, which was crippled by a civil war that ended in 1997, it is only a question of time until Tajikistan is rocked by a social explosion.

Poverty breeding ground for radical ideologies

After they gained independence, Islam experienced a revival in all five Central Asian republics. Lüders differentiates between three varieties of Islam: traditional Islam; radical Islam – which is the result of the interaction of political repression, the search for an identity and economic collapse – and official, governmental Islam, which serves primarily to legitimate authoritarian regimes. At the same time, the author considers the threat of an Islamic revolution in Central Asia to be minor.

While poverty in Central Asia is a breeding ground for radical ideologies, 70 years of the Soviet Union and state-imposed atheism have advanced the secularisation of the societies there. This is why radical Islam seems so utterly out of place in the Central Asian republics. More so than anywhere else.

Traditional Islam in this region is much more of a popular religion: a mythical, mystical popular faith that is tolerant, meditative and peaceful. This is why the political instability of the region is less the result of an Islamic factor – as the regimes continually stress in the hope of attracting money from the West – and more the result of a lack of legitimacy for the regimes and their powerlessness to stop economic collapse and social injustice.

The black and white theory of political stereotypes does not hold water here. The fact that the American goal of bringing democracy to the Middle East in the medium term is obviously not being applied to Central Asia is particularly evident in Turkmenistan. This 'North Korea in the desert', as Lüders aptly describes it, is led by the all-powerful Turkmeni president Niyazov and his apparatus of state.

There are no political parties, no opposition and no independent media in the country. What Turkmenistan does have, however, is massive oil reserves, which have the potential to make the country one of the world's top ten oil-producing countries. This explains why both the USA and Russia are treating the dictator in Aschgabat with kid gloves.

Using Central Asia as an example, Lüders demonstrates to the reader that the black and white theory of political stereotypes so often repeated by the US government – the Axis of Evil versus the allies of the international anti-terror coalition – simply does not hold water.

Ute Schaeffer

Translation from German: Aingeal Flanagan