DUSHANBE, August 6, 2015, Asia-Plus — Sozandagoni Vatan (Homeland Builders), which is the youth wing of the Tajik ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), plans to organize roundtables in all large cities of the country in the near future to discuss factors motivating youth to join extremist and terrorist movements.
Usmon Soliyev, the head of the PDP public relations department, says the roundtables will bring together experts, political scientist, sociologists and representatives of relevant government bodies and law enforcement agencies.
“In districts residents of which are fighting alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant group, parents and friends of youth fighting alongside the ISIL militants will be invited to the roundtables to discuss what is motivating youth to join ISIL,” Soliyev said.
According to him, the first of a series of these roundtables will take place in Dushanbe on August 12.
“Based on materials of these roundtables, the PDP will prepare a new policy of work with youth,” Soliyev added.
We will recall that Tajikistan”s official media sources have launched an “information war” against ISIL, pushing back against the group”s propaganda by publishing reports about its gory killings, enslavement of women, and other abuses. The “information war” is the latest in a series of tactics that Tajikistan has adopted in an attempt to combat recruitment to IS and avoid blowback from returning fighters, including declaring it a banned terror group and revoking the citizenship of Tajiks who fight abroad.
According to data of the Interior Ministry, 519 Tajiks are fighting alongside the IS militant group; 150 Tajik citizens have been killed in Syria and Iraq and 35 have returned home.
The PDP created the Sozandagoni Vatan organization in 2011 and its founding conference took place on July 27, 2011. The organization was registered with the Ministry of Justice in November 2011.
To-date, some 30,000 young people have joined the organization. Besides, some 52,000 young people who are members of the PDP have automatically become members of Sozandagoni Vatan.
The main objective of the organization is in fostering a spirit of patriotism, devotion to ideas of national self-consciousness and independence of the country in the young generation.
Founded in 1994, the People’s Democratic Party is the largest political party in Tajikistan, boasting some 250,000 registered members. President Emomali Rahmon is chairman of the party.
At the legislative elections, February 27 and March 13, 2005, the party won 74% of the popular vote and 52 out of 63 seats. This was an increase from the 2000 elections, in which they won 64.9% of the vote and 38 seats. At the 2010 legislative elections, February 28, the party won 71.69% of the popular vote and 45 out of 63 seats. At the last legislative election, March 1, 2015, the party won 74 percent of the vote and 51 out of 63 seats.
