When
analyzing the links between Isis and
countries like Italy and Austria one evident common denominator that emerges is
the so called “Balkanic connection”,
which means that in both these countries a conspicuous role on jihadist
propaganda and recruitment is covered by radical networks runt by individuals
from the Balkans, especially Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In some way
we could draw a parallel with the “Milan-Vienna-Sarajevo” triangle that became
well-known in the 90’s during the civil war in Bosnia, when hundreds of foreign
fighters, mainly from Arab countries, who joined the Mujahid unit, found
financial and logistical support in the two European cities on their way to
fight in Bosnia.
Milan has a
smaller Bosnian community if compared to Austria, but the
Italian city, often considered the “Italian laboratory of Islam”, had a major
role through the “Centro Culturale Islamico” of viale Jenner, which was mainly
managed by Egyptians with links to the Gamaa al-Islamiya and became a center for recruitment of
militants willing to fight in Bosnia. Shaykh Anwar Shaban, imam in viale
Jenner, became a major reference point for the Bosnian mujahideen of the “El
Mujahid unit” and was killed near Zepce by the Croatian HVO the same day that
the peace accord was signed ending the Bosnian war.[1]
Today the
dynamics have changed: the conflict is now in Syria and Iraq, the networks are
still active in recruiting foreign fighters but this time they are mainly
managed by Balkanic elements that were radicalized in the years following the
Dayton Agreements (1995). This is partially due to the infiltration of
extremist fighters who remained in Bosnia after the end of the war and founded
Salafi communities where they were free to preach their radical ideology and
the results are clear: Jusuf Barcic,
Nusret Imamovic, Bilal Bosnic, Misrad Omerovic (Ebu Tejma), Fadil Porca, just
to name a few.
Jusuf
Barcic founded the first Salafi community in Bocinje and it was mainly composed
by former “El Mujahid” unit members. Nusret Imamovic can be considered his
successor and became well-known for an attack conducted with six fellow Salafis
against Mihajlo Kisic, in Brcko, in
2006. Imamovic has been arrested twice, once in 2010 when Gornja Maoca was
raided by the Bosnian authorities and in 2012 in connection with the October
2011 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo by Mevlid Jasarevic.
Relatives
of Bosnians who went to fight in Syria claim that Nusret Imamovic was their
recruiter. Although Imamovic refused to be interviewed about such allegations.
Muhamed
Fadil Porca, imam at the Tewhid Center in Vienna, is said to have contacts with
Imamovic and according to members of the Bosnian Islamic community he organizes
trips to the” Bosnian Salafi enclaves” for Muslims from Germany and Austria. [2]
Bilal
Bosnic, well-known in the Gornja Maoca area, is probably the most notorious and
was arrested by Sipa with 15 of his followers at the beginning of September. In
the last 10 years Bosnic increased his activity abroad, focusing on countries
like Belgium, Austria and Italy, where he travelled on several occasions since
2011, in Pordenone, Cremona and Siena, in some cases with his collegue Idriz
Bilibani.
In the
summer of 2014 Bosnic appeared in a photo with some of his followers in front
of an Isis flag and during an interview with an Italian newspaper he claimed
support for Isis. In the meantime
Italian authorities were investigating his potential role in recruiting Ismar
Mesinovic and Munifer Karamaleski, two Balkanic individuals who left Italy to
go fight in Syria at the end of 2013. Mesinovic was killed in January 2014
while the whereabouts of Karamaleski are still unknown.
Bosnic might have been part of the Balkanic
network that was in charge of recruiting fighters for Syria and Iraq. He himself
claimed to have met Mesinovic on one occasion, presumably in June 2013 near
Pordenone and to support his decision to fight for jihad.
According
to sources there could be at least two Balkanic recruiting networks in Italy,
one managed by Albanians through the port of Durres and another one managed by
Bosnians and Kosovaris.
Misrad
Omerovic, better known as Ebu Tejma, also resides in Vienna as Porca and caught
the attention of Austrian authorities when relatives of two Austrian/Bosnian
girls who left for Syria claimed that the two had attended Ebu Tejma’s mosque
before disappearing.
Samra
Kesinovic, 16, and Sabina Selimovic, 15, vanished from their homes in Vienna on
April 10 and later appeared in photos wearing veils, brandishing Kalashnikov, surrounded by armed men.
In
mid-September two other girls aged 14 and 16 were arrested by Austrian police
while trying to leave the country to go fight in Syria and investigators are
now trying to understand how they were radicalized.
In
conclusion we can see how in the mid 90’s Arab recruiting networks were looking
for foreign fighters, mainly former mujahideen from Arab countries,
volunteering to fight in Bosnia on the Muslim side, after the Dayton Agreements
of 1995 many of these mujahideen remained in Bosnia and managed, throughout
time, to create small enclaves were a minority of local Muslims were
radicalized. Even though statistics show that the number of radicalized
elements is quite small if compared to the total Bosnian population it is also
true that these networks managed to spread (thanks to the internet and to funds
from Ongs and charities as well), going beyond borders and finding supporters
in nearby countries with relevant Balkanic diaspora such as Italy and Austria.
Today many
of the ideologists and recruiters are originally from the Balkans and they are
not as selective as their predecessors in the 90’s, they recruit anybody who is
willing to go fight, including teenage girls.
Giovanni
Giacalone
is an Italian researcher and analyst in Islamic radicalism, lives in
Milan where he studies political Islam in Europe with a
close look at issues linked to integration, radicalism and relations
between
the various European Institutions and the Islamic organizations present
in Europe.He wrote this article in English for RIMSE.