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has also encouraged sympathisers, who are not trained terrorists, to
carry out attacks based on their own evaluations and decision-making. Such a reality can make it impossible to identify the instigator of an atrocity.
bne IntelliNews has observed that when looking more closely at how Turkey
is used by jihadists, it can be seen
that the country has, since 2011 when the Syria and Libya conflicts ignited, turned into a “jihadist hub”. And some jihadist groups, backed by the Turkish government, have fought Russia’s proxies in Syria and Libya.
“Turkey is a three-ring circus for all jihadist organisations from around the world,” wrote this publication’s correspondent.
Currently, Turkey, with an official population of 85mn, hosts more than 10mn migrants, including millions of jihadists who have fought in the wider region ranging from Afghanistan to Libya.
Just like all of the other international jihadist organisations, ISKP has networks in Turkey and has in fact carried out two headline attacks in Istanbul.
Since the Crocus City Hall attack, Turkey has detained hundreds of individuals on suspicions that they have ties to Islamic State.
Also following the attack, there was
a spike in xenophobic behaviour from Russians towards Central Asian migrants in Russia.
In many cases that backlash has not abated, as indicated by a June 19 report from Tajikistan’s Asia-Plus.
Russia’s State Duma has passed a bill in its first reading that grants police the authority to decide on the expulsion
of a foreign citizen from the country, according to the report.
In Moscow, internal affairs ministry officials were preparing to deport 1,500 migrants following the conducting of “Operation Illegal”, targeted at more than 6,000 locations, it added.
The publication also referred to continuing reports of Tajik citizens arriving from Dushanbe at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport being denied entry and placed in a border control zone for several days.
Bulgaria’s Gerb wins snap general election amid record-low turnout
Denitsa Koseva in Sofia
The Gerb party, led by former prime minister Boyko Borissov, won
the June 9 snap general election and European Parliament election in Bulgaria, amid the lowest-ever turnout of slightly over 30%.
Gerb now seems to be in a position to form a coalition government with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and populist There Are Such People (ITN).
Exit polls show that the race for the second place is tight between reformist pro-Western Change Continues- Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), the
DPS and the far-right pro-Russian Vazrazhdane party.
Gerb won between 26 and 28% of the votes, while CC-DB – its former partner in the previous parliament – got between 15.4% and 15.7%, while the DPS has between 14.3% and 15.6%. Vazrazhdane is close with between 13% and 14.7%.
Two more parties are passing the 4% threshold – the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) with between 8% and 9.8% and ITN with 5.8-6.7%.
There is a possibility that another far-right pro-Russian formation could also pass the threshold and make it into parliament. According the partial vote count, Greatness will enter the parliament and will have 11 MPs, despite being under investigation for illegal paramilitary training and frauds related to acquisition of property.
The biggest loser of the sixth general election since April 2021 is CC-DB, which lost the most votes compared to the previous election held in April last year.
CC-DB lost nearly 10% of its voters compared to April 2023, while Gerb lost just 0.6%. Support for Vazrazhdane has increased by 0.5% and that for DPS increased by 1.5%. The BSP and ITN
also got more support compared to the previous election.
“We heard you. We shall be a constructive opposition in parliament to the plans of Borissov and [DPS co-leader, the Magnitsky sanctioned Delyan] Peevski to drag us back to
the times of the lean pizza and the
Boyko Borissov / www.shutterstock.com
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