TIRANA (AFP) -
Three years
ago, Albert and Yassin left their homes in Kosovo and Albania to wage
jihad in Syria. Now they're back, swelling the ranks of jihadists in a
region the Islamic State has called a "new front" in Europe.
Yassin,
30, who now works as a halal butcher in a downtrodden suburb of
Albania's capital Tirana, refused to give his real name out of fear of
repercussions.
Wounded in Syria's battered northern city of Aleppo
in 2014, the father-of-three told AFP he left "to help the Syrian
people" and hopes Allah will recognise his sacrifice, even if he did not
die a martyr.
Albert Berisha, a 29-year-old political science
graduate, says he took an "emotional decision" to leave for the Middle
East "after seeing on TV and social media what was happening in Syria."
Berisha
has not escaped the attention of the authorities however: Last month,
he was sentenced to three and a half years behind bars.
Authorities
say around 300 Kosovans and up to 120 Albanians have left to wage jihad
in Syria -- placing them among the most affected per capita by the
jihadist phenomenon.
Around 30 combatants have returned to Albania and 120 to Kosovo, according to government estimates.
Albanian
religious affairs analyst Ermir Gjinishi warned that "if we do not
integrate them back into society, if we marginalise them, former
combatants returning to the country could ... be provoked into extreme
actions."
An Islamic State propaganda video last year entitled
"Honor is in Jihad: a message to the people of the Balkans" described
the region as a "new front" for jihad in Europe.
"Black days are coming to you," a Kosovan fighter warns the governments of Kosovo, Albania, and Macedonia.
"You will be terrorised."
- 'Internet brainwashing' -
Muslims
in Kosovo and Albania have historically been liberal but on the streets
of Pristina, women in full veils and bearded men with trousers cropped
at the ankles hint at a latent radicalisation.
Ilir Kulla, former
head of Albania's "State Committee of Cults", said would-be jihadist
recruiters find their job made easier by "the economic situation, a
(low) level of education and Internet brainwashing."
According to
World Bank figures, the average monthly wage in Kosovo is a measly $330
(290 euros), slightly higher in Albania at $370.
And while money
is not the main driving force behind the departures for Syria, an
Albanian police officer said a fighter in an IS unit would earn more
than double that and $2,000 as a commander.
Visar Duriqi, a
Kosovo-based expert in religion, noted: "Kosovo was economically
devastated in the war and its economic recovery is still slow, which is
creating many social problems."
The authorities in the region are fighting back and claiming some success.
"No
Kosovan has joined a terrorist group in the past six months," said
president Hashim Thaci, who told AFP in February he had himself received
death threats from Islamic State.
Albania's deputy interior minister Elona Gjebrea said "no Albanian had left the country" for Syria since 2014.
In
both places, authorities have clamped down on returning jihadists and
those who recruit them, with an increasing number of arrests and trials.
On Tuesday, Albania jailed nine men for up to 18 years for financing and recruiting fighters -- the first trial of its kind.
As
the verdicts were handed down, the defendents shouted "Allahu Akbar
(God is greatest). Traitors. Our time will come. You will be punished."
- 'Demagogues, charlatans, manipulators' -
The
prime minister of Albania, Edi Rama, has introduced religious education
in schools to fight against ignorance and what he called "demagogues,
charlatans and manipulators."
One of those people Rama is
targeting is Almir Daci, an Iman who ran a network responsible for
sending 70 people -- including women and children -- to Syria.
The
34-year-old helped to transform Leshnice, Remenj and Zagorcan --
villages near the Macedonian border where churches stand side-by-side
with mosques -- into a hotbed of jihadist recruitment.
Daci, alias
Abu Bakr al-Albani, worked as the Iman in a neighbouring village of
Pogradec, and was one of the Islamic State group's main recruiters in
Albania.
His relatives received news from Syria that he had died
last month but, as is often the case, there was no way of independently
confirming this.
Hurma Alinji, 59, a neighbour of the Daci family,
accuses Daci of being responsible for the death of her son, who died in
Syria in 2014 aged 28.
"I blame Daci. He's the only one responsible. He pushed my son Ervis to leave," she said.
Ervis worked in Greece but his family noticed radical changes in his behaviour after he began frequenting Daci's mosque.
Before
he would happily watch his father swill raki but suddenly "refused to
eat the meat" bought from the village and "cut the bottoms off his new
trousers."
One evening in February 2013, he said his "brothers needed help."
And left to die in Syria, like around 70 Albanians and Kosovans.
by Briseida Mema and Ismet Hadjari
© 2016 AFP
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