Police Reform

Operational Working Group meeting of the Project KALKAN in Turkey

The 8th Operational Working Group meeting of the Project KALKAN/INTERPOL on “Terrorist routes from/to conflict zones and lessons to be learnt on de-radicalization” took place from 26 to 27 June in Istanbul, Turkey.

The representatives from 32 countries, including Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russian Federation, Republic of Kyrgyzstan, USA, Great Britain, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, etc. participated in the event. The participants represented mainly National Central Bureau of Interpol of their countries. Tajikistan in the conference was represented by the Head of organized crime department of the MIA RT in some Direct Rule Districts of the Republic of Tajikistan, including Vahdat, Lieutenant Colonel Fayzullo Rahimov, Counter Terrorism and Police Advisor of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan Mr. Ulf Billving, Project Officer on Violent Extremism and Radicalization that Leads to Terrorism (VERLT) Mr. Ivan Calabuig-Williams, as well as Junior Professional Officer of the Counter Terrorism and Police Unit of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan Mr. Saner Ahmedov, and the OSCE Police Reform Project Assistant Abdumannop Saitov. 
During the meeting Mr. Rahimov made a speech on “Countering Terrorism and Extremism in the Republic of Tajikistan within the framework of Project KALKAN/INTERPOL.” He noted that “extremism, especially its utmost phenomenon – terrorism is an acute problem of the world community.” “The system of state actions of the Republic of Tajikistan on counter terrorism and other phenomenon of extremism involves official recognition of organizations and movements as terrorist and extremist ones, and prohibiting their activities in the area of Tajikistan,” noted Mr. Rahimov.
On 30 March 2006, such organizations as “Al-Qaida,” “Islamic Movement of the Eastern Turkestan,” “Hizb-ut-Tahrir,” “Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan,” “The Muslim Brotherhood,” “the Taliban Movement,” “Tablighi Dzhamaat” and other organizations were acknowledged as terrorist ones,” added Mr. Rahimov.
The fight against criminal activities of “Hizb-ut-Tahrir” and other terrorist organizations in terms of sovereign Tajikistan gains theoretical and practical importance, and insistently requires the consolidation of all forces of political system of the society: state bodies, public organizations, political parties, and military agencies. Thus, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RT conducts operational-preventive activities to suppress the activities of prohibited religious and extremist parties on a permanent basis, the members of which disseminate in Tajikistan flyers, religious literature with reactionary extremist and subversive nature, aimed at incitement of national, ethnic, religious hatred and enmity, and calling to violent change of the Constitutional system in the country,” stated Mr. Rahimov.
At the end of his speech, Mr. Rahimov has emphasized that “for the purposes of effective fight against extremism and terrorism, first of all, activities coordination of law enforcement and military agencies is required.”
Further Mr. Ulf Billving made a presentation about the “OSCE/Interpol Project: Enhanced Integrated Passport Control in the Republic of Tajikistan.” He noted that this project will be implemented within the framework of the Police Reform Program in Tajikistan for the period of 2013-2020, and will include 9 pilot Border Check Points (BCPs) in the border regions of Tajikistan. The project envisages supplying of modern equipment in all the BCPs to identify lost and stolen travel documents, which are often used by terrorists and extremists to cross state borders. Mr. Ulf Billving has marked that the beginning of project implementation is stipulated in December 2013, and will be funded by the OSCE.
For reference, Project “KALKAN” encourages the development of comprehensive aid to Central Asian countries in carrying out the investigations affiliated to terrorism and religious extremism, to improve and enhance methods of anti- terrorism activities. It is mostly focused on data collection, which will enable networking on regional and international levels, and coordination of activities of law enforcement agencies in identifying, preventing, and suppression the activities of terrorist organizations and its separate members in more efficient way.