Islamisternas förhoppningar kom på skam efterfrihetskriget mot den serbiska kommunismen på
Balkan. De lyckades inte skapa en språngbräda
för attacken mot Europa. Istället upptäckte de att
de nya staterna minst av allt var intresserade av
underkasta sig en ny totalitär ideologi....
Som Michael J Totten visade i sin artikelserie (här
och här) har islamisterna få vänner på dagens
Balkan. När bosniska polisen nyligen tvingades sätta
in 600 man för att återerövra en by från arabiska
islamister stöddes de av en enig opinion i Bosnien.
Den nya staten Kosova kämpar mot narkotika-
gangsters, en korrupt EU-byråkrati och det
permanenta hotet från Serbien, men tycks
samtidigt helt immunt mot islamismens
locktoner.
Den serbiska propagandaapparaten mal visserligen
om att muslimer innebär ett islamistiskt hot på
Balkan, men skrapar man på ytan på sådana
artiklar finner man i regel den titoistiska sumpen
kring "nyhetsbyrån" Serbianna eller Radovan
Karadzics tidigare presschef Sdrja Trifkovic
(alias "dr Trifunovic")....
Sanningen är snarare att Bosnien, Kosova och
Makedonien visat en beundransvärd motstånds-
kraft mot salafism, wahhabism och jihadism.
***
Sunday Times berättar om hur saudierna nu sätter
in stora resurser för att underminera religion och stat
i Makedonien och hur makedonierna kämpar
emot.....
SAUDI ARABIA is pouring hundreds of millions of
pounds into Islamist groups in the Balkans, some
of which spread hatred of the West and recruit
fighters for jihad in Afghanistan.
According to officials in Macedonia, Islamic
fundamentalism threatens to destabilise the
Balkans. Strict Wahhabi and Salafi factions
funded by Saudi organisations are clashing
with traditionally moderate local Muslim
communities.
Fundamentalists have financed the construction
of scores of mosques and community centres as
well as handing some followers up to £225 a
month. They are expected not only to grow
beards but also to persuade their wives to wear
the niqab, or face veil, a custom virtually unknown
in the liberal Islamic tradition of the Balkans.
Government sources in traditionally secular
Macedonia (official title the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia), said they were monitoring
up to 50 Al-Qaeda volunteers recruited to fight
in Afghanistan.
**
Classified documents seen by The Sunday Times
reveal that Macedonian officials are also investi-
gating a number of Islamic charities, some in
Saudi Arabia, which are active throughout the
Balkans and are suspected of spreading
extremism and laundering money for terrorist
organisations.
One of the groups under scrutiny is the
International Islamic Relief Organisation
from Saudi Arabia, which is on a United Nations
blacklist of organisations backing terrorism.
It did not respond to inquiries, but has previously
denied involvement in terrorist activities, calling
such claims “totally unfounded”.
According to its website, it works in 32 countries
to provide relief to the victims of natural disasters
and to carry out humanitarian, health and
educational projects.
“Hundreds of millions have been poured
into Macedonia alone in the past decade
and most of it comes from Saudi Arabia,”
said a government source.
“The Saudis’ main export seems to be
ideology, not oil.”
Sulejman Rexhepi, leader of the Islamic community
in Macedonia, said a number of mosques had been
forcibly taken over by radical groups.
Four in central Skopje are no longer under the control
of the official Islamic authorities. New imams claim they
have been “spontaneously” installed by the “people”.
“Their so-called Wahhabi teachings are
completely alien to our traditions and to the
essence of Islam, which is a tolerant and
inclusive religion,” said Rexhepi.
In some mosques believers are being told that Macedonia,
which sent 200 soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan, has
been tricked into supporting a crusade against Islam
spearheaded by Britain and America.
Radical clerics have shown footage from Afghanistan,
Iraq and the Palestinian territories to illustrate their
claims that the West is waging war on Islam.
**
Rahman, a 35-year-old cab driver from Skopje,
Macedonia’s capital, said he had stopped going
to his local mosque since it was taken over by
extremists. “Following the Haiti earthquake the new
imam said God would punish the West for their wars
in Afghanistan and Iraq with natural disasters,” he said.
Bekir Halimi, an imam trained in Syria, runs Bamiresia,
an Islamic charity that has been investigated for
alleged terrorist links and money laundering.
Police raided its offices but failed to find any evidence
of terrorist links.
“We are fully entitled to receive funding from both
governmental and non-governmental organisations
from Saudi Arabia,” said Halimi, who refuses to name
the sources of his funding but rejects any suggestion
of criminal activity.
****
