It is time for the international community to abandon the view of Albanians as a secular people who overcame their religious contradictions for the sake of national unity, told an expert on Islamic fundamentalism, a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, Milan Vukelic, in a commentary to News Front Serbia, commenting on the report of the Military Academy and the Counter-Terrorism Center in the USA, which, among other things, spoke about the Albanian branch of ‘Katiba’, fighting on the side of the terrorists in Syria.
“The unit mentioned in the American report, Jamati Alban, is included in the Hayat Tahrir al Sham organization. It is composed of Albanians, mainly from Kosovo and Metohija and Macedonia. Led by 42-year-old Abdul Yashari, known as Abu Qatada al-Albani. Yashari is widely known in jihadist circles and is a military adviser to Abu Muhammad al-Golani, the former leader of Al-Nusra, and now leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. He, by the way, is a citizen of Northern Macedonia, advocates establishing cooperation with the Huraa al-Din movement, the Al Qaeda cut. In November 2016, the US administration declared Yashari one of the most wanted terrorists in the world,” said the expert.
According to him, 403 people, including women and even children, went from Kosovo to the Middle East alone. 107 militants arrived from Albania, 207 from the Albanian-populated regions of Northern Macedonia.
Vukelic notes that the reason for this is the spread of radical Islamic movements among the Muslim population in Kosovo: “Albanian Muslims, like other militants, are attracted by the Wahhabi, or neo-Salafi vision of Islam. Wahhabism is developing among Albanians, especially in Kosovo and Metohija, with leaps and bounds, like no other territory with a Muslim population. According to Albanian sources, now about 50 thousand Kosovo Albanians profess this most radical face of Islam. ”
The American report also indicated that Pristina has loyal legislation towards Islamists. The average prison term received by those convicted of terrorism is 3.5 years, and 40% have already been released.