“They had weak immunity to external influences” - results of study on women returned from Iraq and Syria announced

“Looking at these women’s transcripts, we can say that they all received poor education. They did not work anywhere. Without a proper level of education, they had weak immunity to external influences.”

An international conference on the topic “Dialogue of Central Asia on the Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Refugees from Syria and Iraq: experience of Uzbekistan” was organized on March 3 at the Hilton Hotel Tashkent.

Specialists were involved in the rehabilitation of those who returned home during the operation “Mehr-1” and “Mehr-2”, Kun.uz correspondent said.

Professor of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies Bakhtiyor Bobojonov spoke about the reasons, which caused Uzbek women to leave for Iraq and Syria.

“As a researcher, I am interested in one thing: Why do women leave their homeland and move to Syria, the epicenter of war? What led them to make such a decision?

According to our estimates, 10% of repatriates went to Syria in 2016-2017. The war had already started at that time. But even knowing this, they still made such serious decisions.

I hear on international forums that women have gone to Syria because of socioeconomic problems. It is also said that there are not enough facilities for religious activities. In accordance with the results we obtained, these are, indeed, some of the reasons, but they are not the main ones.

According to the women we spoke to, they were introduced to the idea of a “happy caliphate”. They say that women and children were intentionally bombed, kept hungry for several days, and children were abused.

According to the results of the study: women have left for Syria following their spouses, brothers, fathers or close relatives. Some have left the country with their families.

The biggest reason is the lack of proper education. Looking at these women’s transcripts, we can say that they all received poor education and did not work anywhere. Finally, they strictly followed what their husband said.

In my opinion, a very low level of education has created a weak immunity to external influences. As a result, they were completely disconnected from real life and made war a myth. They could not assess the real situation objectively,” Babajanov said.

It should be recalled that the “Mehr-1” operation was held on May 30, 2019, in which 107 children and 48 women were evacuated from Syria and Iraq. On October 10, 64 children were brought from Iraq.