Washington Post: Kosovo, home of many returnees from I SISU, attempts not to be a source of terrorism

Much attention was paid to the showing of terrorists of Islamic State in Belgium, France and other European countries, yet one of the biggest problems such as radicalism is already extending to the ends of the old continent.

“Washington Post” writes that Kosovo, the majority Muslim country in the Balkans, has produced mostly foreign head fighters, more than any other country in the Western Balkans since the Islamic State appearance in 2014.

430 Kosovo citizens have joined the Islamic State since then.

In an earlier bid for integration into the European Union, Kosovo has been under pressure to eliminate the problem of radicalism, which Kosovo authorities say has succeeded.

Since 2013, Kosovo Police say they have arrested more than 120 terrorists, including suspects in recruiting soldiers to fight outside Kosovo.

“We do not see terrorism as a threat”, says Metom Bytyqi, political analyst who has led Kosovo's strategy in the fight against terrorism.

It's a total silence. All imams, even if they mean something they're afraid of the government. ”

Even many terrorism suspects who have been sentenced by prison courts are already fearing. Some are even seeking rehabilitation.

“We are becoming stronger and wiser” says Fitim Laddrovci (28), the former Islamic State fighter, saying the “terrorists will not be integrated, perhaps they can be attacked in Kosovo.

Anne Speckhar, a psychiatrist who runs the International Centre for Extremism Studies, says that the rehabilitation of Ladrovci from radical ideas is to take an example, the Express broadcast.

“We have to give a model for all of Europe as far as the practice is concerned, says Garentina Kraja, a researcher at the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies.

“We are Muslim majority, but we are secular European citizens. It's a feeling that we need to find an example somewhere like an answer to how to work on the” portal.

Kosovo could be an opening point for extremists in the European Union to carry out attacks, says the director of the German Institute for Studies about Radiism and Deradialisation.

In June, Kosovo authorities have arrested several suspects who were planning attacks on NATO troops in Kosovo, as well as attacks on public places in France and Belgium.

Since April, the U.S. Department of Justice has implemented a terrorism-related rehabilitation programme for prisoners and suspects.

Before that, Kosovo has not had another programme to rehabilitate fighters returning from the ISIS war, based on the European Commission's report on Kosovo in 2018.

Many countries in Europe have more stable programmes than Kosovo. In Germany, Great Britain and France, it is a more powerful infrastructure in social care than in Kosovo” says Koehler.

Kosovo is continuing to recover from the 1998-99 war with Serbia, suffers from corruption in the public sector, and has problems respecting law”.

The new United States programme sends psychologists, sociologists and social workers to advise ministers and the Islamic community in Kosovo to work with persons who have been imprisoned for terrorism.

This strategy of rehabilitation of extremists has been tested in Saudi Arabia and in Arab countries, before coming to Kosovo, says Koehler, “but this approach rarely works”.

Ladrovci who was released from prison three months ago after I served him. The SIS for more than three years calls it ridiculous that intelligence services will send imams for rehabilitation of returnees from I SIS, because according to him, they will not accept them “because they are not true Muslims”.

Anne Speckhard, a German psychiatrist believes that doordating should be a goal in itself: A mailed person would not easily slip into terrorism from what has been cut off, but he is ideologically in danger of returning.

Liridon Kabashi, (31) another I member SIS said he never received any treatment during his time in prison.

For more than two years I've heard them talk about the programme, but nothing ever happened in reality”, says Kabashi, who returned to Kosovo in 2013 and held three years in prison.

Ladrovci feels bad about joining him at I SIS, in no form justifys terrorist attacks throughout Europe.

According to him, other persons who return to Kosovo from I The SIS really need to be opened and reintegration before they become more dangerous and plan attacks on Kosovo or other neighbouring countries.