Suhareka and Podujevo at the lowest level of extremism

According to a study by the Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development KIPRED, Podujevo has only one person involved in terrorist groups in the Syria and Iraq war, while Suhareka has none.

According to Kosovo Police data, only one individual has been attached to the Podujevo municipality to terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq. Currently, police have no information about the person in question, except that he is not found in the territory of the Podujevo municipality. According to similar sources, two more people have attempted to join groups fighting in Syria, but they have been prevented by Kosovo Police”, said the research published by KIPRED.

The research further says that currently in the Podujevo municipality no non-governmental organisation promoting more radical forms of Islam operates.

According to this research, there have been attempts in the past, mainly by organisations that have distributed aid or helped financially, but representatives of these organisations have left at the request of the Islamic Community Council in this municipality, with the reasoning that they acted outside BIK's rules.

Meanwhile, the Suhareka municipality, according to research “Forecast of Radicalism and Distract Extremism: The lessons from the Podujevo and Suhareka Komunist examples” is one of the municipalities with the lowest level of radicalism and violent extremism throughout Kosovo.

According to Kosovo Police data, no person from Suhareka has joined terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq. Police also have no record of any people from this city trying to join terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.

Research says the main factor that has contributed to the prevention of radicalism and violent extremism in these two municipalities is the right and proper action on the part of Islamic Community Councils.

In both cases, the KBI has since begun has resisted the installation of organisations and individuals who have insisted on preaching radical forms of Islam. He kept talking to the people, and not just at the mosque during the prayer, but at gatherings, at schools, and at the mediums. Such radical ideologies as foreign and harmful to Albanians in Kosovo” have been exposed, the research published by KIPRED says.

The research further states that radical and extremist-minded organisations and associations have had it impossible, especially during the post-war phase to find ground to distribute their ideology in these two municipalities.

One of the factors that has contributed to the prevention of the extent of radical and extremist ideology is the process of controlling imam selection.

By the start of the Syria war, more than 400 Kosovars are believed to have gone to war zones in Syria and Iraq.

More than 130 people have been sentenced in Kosovo for participating in the wars in Syria and Iraq, meanwhile, more than 70 Kosovars have been killed in these areas and about 200 still remain there.