Originally published in the Serbian news agency (Serbianna), December 2006
After the 9/11, a worldwide “War on terror” begun in order to disband and neutralize terrorist networks across the globe. The main focus of the largest anti-terrorist campaign in history is focused in the Middle East area, as well as in Afghanistan. The Balkan Peninsula is the European area where this campaign has also taken place, with numerous arrests and a continuous effort into riding the fundamentalist of the area. The question arising though, is how did the extremists gain a foothold in South Eastern Europe in the first place, and what was the reaction of the international community over the previous years.
The presence of Islam in the Balkans dates back in the 13th century. The Byzantine Emperors in order to create the much needed mercenary armies, against the then archenemy, namely the Francs; allowed Muslim Turks into modern day Bulgaria. They were used mainly as cavalry forces due to their excellent techniques in that kind of war. Over the coming decades the antagonism between the Francs and the Vatican from one side and the Byzantium from the other, led to the final conquer of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Gradually virtually the whole of the Balkans came under Muslim dominance and were included in the Dar al Islam territory stretching from the Hindu river and up to Gibraltar. In Bosnia in particular the sect of Vogomils –Eastern Orthodox sect-, converted to Islam for a variety of societal and spiritual reasons. Since the Vogomils were the affluent class of the central Balkans they soon became the ruling class for millions of Christians of Slavic descent mostly.
In Albania the Islamic takeover had a dramatic effect and in a matter of 150 years 2/3rds of the population converted from the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches, to Islam. The main reason for such a large proselytism in Albania had been the traditional adherence towards the stronger ruler that the mountainous Albanians have showed since their early history. During the Roman Empire times, the Albanians served as elite corps in the Armies of the Emperors Empires –i.e. Diocletian was of Albanian descent- and tended to absorb the cultural and religious norms of their regional superintendents. The same was the case in the more or less Greek dominated Byzantium. As soon as the “Eastern Roman Empire” waned in favor of the Western one; there was a mass conversion to Catholicism in the early 13th century. The historical collective path of the Albanian people can be compared with that of the mountainous Swiss that have eloquently absorbed influences and norms by the much larger and influential neighbors (Germany, France, and Italy).
The above historical outline is presented in order to explain the infiltration in the Balkans through two Islamic influenced states, Albania and Bosnia.
In 1992 the break of the civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina presented an unparallel opportunity for the international Mujahedin, to storm Europe and establish safe havens in the area. The leader of Bosnia, Alia Izebegovic was eager to obtain as much assistance as possible and didn’t hesitate in providing the necessary framework by which the Islamic ties were forged. Actually in the same year, a variety of Islamic mercenaries flowed into the Balkans in order to support the “Holy cause”, meaning the establishment of the first Islamic state in Europe. The end of the war in 1995 saw quite a few of those mujahedin, acquiring Bosnian citizenship and establishing the first Islamic community in the village of Bosinye.
The tolerance of the West towards this phenomenon proved to be one of the gravest mistakes of modern times. Articles in Serbianna and in other information sources have indicated a massive handout of Bosnian passports to hundreds of potentially dangerous individuals of Middle Eastern descent. On top of that, a well organized criminal network has already been established in Sarajevo that in a large extent facilitates illegal immigration from Asia to Europe. That activity is coupled with the narcotics trade that is being supplemented by the infamous “Balkan Drug route”. It is illuminating to note that the areas from where this route is passing are under Muslim influence mostly.
Albania was under the Communist rule during the Cold War, the most isolated country in Europe. The break of the Soviet Empire unleashed forces that were kept dormant in the society for decades, and resulted to some very interesting developments. In 1992 Albania becomes a member of the Islamic Conference, an international Islamic organization. The same year as well the government of Sali Berisha –Who is also the current P. Minister – signed a military agreement with Turkey, thus enacting a series of discussions in the neighboring states, around the possibility of an Islamic arch from Istanbul to Sarajevo. One of the main reasons the Albanian officials were eager into forming strong ties with the Muslim world; was the hope that large investments from the Gulf would ensure the uplifting of the decaying Albanian economy.
Therefore the religious sentiment of the majority of Albanians –Mostly in the North- was overplayed in order to gain capital from the Islamic world. Unfortunately no serious investment initiatives were undertaken; instead the Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, found another state to expand their illegal activities. Many different and respectable sources have indicated two visits by Bin Laden in Tirana that aimed into creating an Islamic platform for the country and the construction of terrorist networks within the territory. An Albanian called Naseroudin Albani played an instrumental role in spreading extremist Islamic values into the Albanian society.
He was a fugitive from Albania since 1963 and resided in Amman-Jordan. Sources mainly from Albania, point out to him, that he organized radical Sunni sects back in the 70’s in the Middle East that became the nucleus of the modern day Mujahedin. Another Albanian, the then head of the SHIK –Secret service-, called Bashkim Gazidente assisted into implementing a kind of Islamic agenda in Albanian domestic policies. The 1997 riots ensured his flight from Albania and he is often now accused to be an instrument of the Islamic networks. He presumably lives now in a Middle Eastern country.
The Al Qaeda factor in Albania was consolidated by the creation of the Arabic-Albanian bank, in which Bin Laden allegedly invested the sum of 11.4 million USD. This financial institution acted as a front cover for the transfer of capital for Islamic activities within the country. Just before Berisha’s political overturn in 1997, another Islamic institution called “El Farouk”, acted as a recruitment agency for young Albanians, under the pretext of a charity. Moreover one of the most dramatic indications of the establishment of an Islamic foothold in Albania was the creation of a training camp just outside Tirana, and in fact it is the same camp by which Berisha tried in 1998 unsuccessfully to overthrow the then government of Fatos Nano.
In 1998 the bombing attacks in Nairobi and Tanzania, really socked the USA administration that acted for the first time in the 90’s to seek the destruction of terrorists networks. Soon the pressure fell in Albania and in the October of the same month individuals of Middle Eastern origin mostly were rounded up and deported. The head of SHIK –Fatos Clozi-, admitted for the first the existence of extremists in Albania and promised the eradication of the terrorist nucleus.
The 9/11 attacks proved to be a fatal blow for the radicals in Albania and the USA forces have more or less neutralize any remaining cells. The government of Albania, which is more than willing to become inducted in the Euro-Atlantic security framework, has ceased to seek Islamic assistance and the current Berisha’s administration has refaced its Islamic outlook into a modern European one.
Nevertheless, the Albanian-Islamic connection is now concentrated in Kosovo, the very same province NATO forces are stationed! There is an overwhelming variety of sources and reports that indicate a well established fundamentalist presence in that area.
It is a common secret in the international community that the West kept a blind eye during the 1998-1999 Winter where hundreds of Mujahedin joined the UCK forces and helped it expand. At that period the means justified the end which was the disbandment of the Russian influence in the Balkans, as the Clinton administration viewed the Milocevic one. The result was a resurge of Islamic radical networks in the region, thus eliminating the beneficial results of previous actions against it. Moreover Russia managed to regroup and it is still viewed as a great player in South Eastern Europe. In a nutshell sometimes means justify the ends, only when the ones in charge really understand Machiavelli in spirit and not only in text.
Continuing, Montenegro nowadays faces a long term Islamic population bomb and it is certain that should current trends continue, in 2050 half of the population would be Muslim. That is not of course a prelude of terrorism action per se, but the overall turbulent Balkan history and the existence of such networks in nearby Kosovo, will most surely not assure a calm and tranquil political future for the newest Balkan state. The FYR Macedonia is also another terrain where the delicate balance between radicalism and Muslim secularism is taking place. Back in 2001, an Albanian uprising nearly resulted in the disintegration of the state, nowadays there is a pervasion of stability. However any negative developments in Kosovo will affect directly the country which is also the epicenter of the Balkans by a geopolitical point of view.
Lastly the Sanjak area in Southern Serbia is a territory to watch, where the Wahhabi strain of Islam has gained tremendous influence in the local Muslim population. Again Kosovo as the centre of radicalism in the Balkans could play the role of the powder keg for any developments in Sanjak, against the Serbian population in the region.
The European administrative and strategic community –Whatever that term might imply for the Continent- must be fully aware of the complicated Balkan reality. The region is a mostly secular one, but it has the peculiarity of hosting safe havens of terrorists and organized crime related Islamists. Moreover most of them habituate in areas of international control, thus making a ridicule of the whole of the campaign against terror by the West. In parallel the existence of criminal activities of tremendous proportions in the narcotics and the trafficking smuggling, provides those terrorist laden networks, with enough capital to influence and buy their way out in cases of crack downs and persecutions.
Therefore only a coordinated pan European operation would be able to eradicate this perilous condition. The bombings in Madrid and in London had a Balkan flavor in them –Namely the explosives used according to many-, and one wonders what might happen in the future. Islamic radicalism is an X factor in modern day Balkans and in the whole of Europe. What is certain though is that this factor will not be used for the benefit of the West and the only way of neutralize it is by disrupting its logistic and financial base.
The only obstacle so far for the successful inaction of a “Balkan war on terror” are the careers in various world capitals, that are related on the perception of half truths and half lies about the West’s involvement in the Yugoslavian wars and the use of the Islamic X factor on those. Political ambitious, international reputations and the all pervading political correctness, hinders the right actions to be taken. A great leader once said “A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”. That surely sums up the mentality of the international officials around the “X factor”.
Sources for the article – readings
1) http://www.worldpress.org/Europe/2335.cfm Paper on radical Islam in the Balkans
2) http://chrisdeliso.com/buy-books/the-coming-balkan-caliphate-the-threat-of-radical-islam-to-europe-and-the-west/
3) http://www.google.com/search?q=islam+in+the+balkans&hl=el&lr=&rls=WZPA,WZPA:2006-23,WZPA:en&start=20&sa=N A Bulgarian appraisal of Islam in the Balkans
4) http://www.google.com/search?q=islam+in+the+balkans&hl=el&lr=&rls=WZPA,WZPA:2006-23,WZPA:en&start=20&sa=N An analysis of terrorism and Islam in the Balkans
5) http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35561 An article about Islam in Bosnia
6) http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=400&issue_id=2909&article_id=23538 A paper by the Jamestown Foundation on Wahhabism in the Balkans
7) http://chrisdeliso.com/buy-books/the-coming-balkan-caliphate-the-threat-of-radical-islam-to-europe-and-the-west/
8) http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/islamic_terrorism.htm An assessment of the terrorism in the Balkans during the 90’s by the USA Naval historical center.
9) www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/RL33012.pdf A CRS report for the USA Congress for the Islamic terrorism in the Balkans
10) http://www.stormingmedia.us/31/3184/A318444.html Presentation of a FAS paper on Islamic extremism in the Balkans.
11) http://leav-www.army.mil/fmso/documents/muja.htm An article on Mujahedins in Bosnia by the Foreign Military Studies Office Publications-USA-.
12) Al-Qaida’s Jihad in Europe The Afghan-Bosnian Network, By Evan F. Kohlmann, Summary link: http://www.bergpublishers.com/uk/book_page.asp?BKTitle=Al-Qaida’s%20Jihad%20in%20Europe
13) http://www.fas.org/irp/news/1994/afghan_war_vetrans.html An analysis on the role of Mujahedins in the Bosnia conflict by the Federation Of American Scientists
14) http://www.saag.org/papers4/paper306.html A paper around Islamic terrorism in the Balkans by the South Asia Analysis Group
15) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200309/ai_n9253533 An analysis of the operational modus of the Mujahedin in the Balkans
16) http://128.121.186.47/ISSA/reports/Balkan/Jan1204.htm A report on Islamic terrorism in the Balkans by GIS
17) http://www.freeman.org/m_online/feb98/bodansky.htm A critique on the USA policy in Bosnia
18) http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980000-kla-petkovic-terror.htm A report published by FAS on connections between Albania and Islamic terrorism
19) http://waronjihad.org/balkan160505.html An article on jihad in the Balkans
20) http://www.cfr.org/publication/4344/rule_of_law.html?breadcrumb=%2Fregion%2F385%2Fbalkans A report on Al-Qaeda links in the Balkans by the CFR.
21) http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=GOR20050714&articleId=692 An article around Western faults regarding Islamic fundamentalism in the Balkans by the Global Research Group
22) http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=100 Analysis on the presence of Al-Qaeda on the Balkans by DEBKA
23) http://www.balkanpeace.org/index.php?index=/content/analysis/a15.incl An article on Al-Qaeda in the Balkans by the Center for Peace in the Balkans
24) www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/crsreports/crsdocuments/RL33012_07262005.pdf A paper by the University of Maryland on Islamic terrorism in the Balkans
25) www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/soccp311.doc.htm A publication of the United Nations on the connection between organized crime and terrorism in the Balkans
26) http://www.google.com/search?q=organized+crime+and+terrorism+in+the+balkans&hl=el&lr=&rls=WZPA,WZPA:2006-23,WZPA:en&start=10&sa=N A collection of resources on the mismanagement by the West of Islam in the Balkans
27) http://www.google.com/search?q=organized+crime+and+terrorism+in+the+balkans&hl=el&lr=&rls=WZPA,WZPA:2006-23,WZPA:en&start=10&sa=N An Associated Press report on Jihadist links in the Balkans
28) www.balkanalysis.com/security-intelligence-briefs/06262006-dragas-pocket-worries-terrorism-experts/ An analysis on Balkan terrorism by Balkanalysis.com
29) http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/cgi-bin/newsviews.cgi/The%20Balkans/Kosovo A variety of articles on Balkans, Islam and terrorism by the Chronicles Magazine.
Radical Islam Monitor in Southeast Europe