Turkish Threat to I Warriors SIS challenge for Balkans

Turkey says “is hotel” for I fighters The SIS from Europe. But Balkan states are unable to face their return.

Countries in the Balkans are facing a new challenge stemming from the war in Syria -- Turkish pressure for the repatriation of hundreds of Islamic State fighters and their families.

A new dispute in Turkey's relations with Europe, experts say the process of returning fighters home will be a major test of Balkan states.

“generally, nobody in the world is willing to accept foreign fighters because this is a new international phenomenon”, said independent Sarajevo security analyst Safet Music. “Of course, developed countries can cope with this problem more easily than the Balkan countries. ”

We can say that there are experts who can handle this issue. The legislation is also regulated. But there are no means for de-raditionalisation process and there is no room for housing of former members of I SIS and their families. ”

Burak Bilgehan Ozpek, a professor of international relations at Ankara's TOBB University, said that, like the issue of Syrian refugees and their sex through Turkey towards the European Union, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would use I fighters SIS as a mechanism for the silent Western accession of its policies to neighbouring Syria.

“S along with refugee card, former I fighters The SIS and their families are another Erdgoan mechanism in his relationship with the West”, Ozpek told BIRN.

“Erdogan tries to show European countries that did not support Turkey's military operation that Turkey is part of the European security system on this issue. ”

Ankara: We are not a hotel for terrorists.

Turkey's military intervention in Syria in October, after the US withdrawal, has injected new uncertainties into the issue of I's fighters. SIS and their families from Europe. Turkey says it is acting against terrorists, including I SIS.

“We are not a hotel for terrorists of any country”, Turkish Interior Minister Sulejman Soylu said on 13 November as Erdogan met US President Donald Trump at the White House. “The EU and others do not have a policy for them, but we do and we will implement it. ”

The Erdogan-Trump meeting brought any clear path forward.

Not known exactly how many warriors of I SIS and their family members are originally from the Balkans, but most come from Kosovo, Bosnia, Albania and Northern Macedonia, while a smaller number are citizens of Montenegro and Serbia.

Kosovo and Bosnia have accepted some of their citizens who fought in Syria and are preparing to wait for others.

Of course, former members of I The SIS poses a threat to security in their eastern countries, but if they are prosecuted and subject to a de-radicalism programme and monitored by security agencies, this threat will be significantly reduced”, Music told BIRN.

While states would take a more kind approach to women and children, he said, “is necessary to determine which women participated in any of the formations of I SIS and if they had combat duties and had to be processed. ”

Bosnian Deputy Security Minister Mijo Kresic said on November 13th that Bosnia would accept any fighters returned from the battlefields in Syria and Iraq that have Bosnian citizenship and that they would be treated by law.

As far as Kosovo is concerned, Interior Minister Ekrem Mustafa told Radio Free Europe this month that Pristina was in talks with Ankara on preparations for the return of 100 other Kosovo citizens from Syria, following 110 repatriateds in April, including a number of former fighters.

Acknowledging that the process was the dangerous “”, Fatos Makolli, the Kosovo National Coordinator vs. Extremism, told Deutsche Wille on November 10th: “We can control this danger because we know people. We judge those who are guilty and try to do our best to integrate others into the community. ”

Music told BIRN: “This issue should not be politicised; the issue should be left to experts. ”

Ozpek said the EU should take care of helping Balkan states.

“Balkan is part of the European security system. Peace and security in the Balkans are a concern of Europe”, he said. “If Europe wants to be secure, it should support Balkan security. ”

However, Music was sceptical of any co-ordinated international solution on this issue.

“Sic are things now, these things will generally happen through bilateral or interstate activities”, he said. “Turkey must show more patience before deciding for unilateral moves, even though the situation in Turkey is extremely complicated. )

A Dangerous Strategy

Turkey believed to hold about 1,200 former I fighters SIS, while Kurdish forces in Syria still control more than 10,000 former fighters and their relatives.

But Ozpek said: “We still do not know the true number of ISIS fighters and their families in prisons and camps

How many have fled when Kurdish forces withdrew in the face of advancing Turkish forces, an operation Ankara said was aiming at creating a neutral zone and easing the burden of refugees in Turkey. The EU has condemned the operation. Western countries did not support Turkey's operation in Syria, and Turkey was accepted as responsible for the fugitive prisoners of ISIS”, Ozpek said.

For this reason, Erdogan now wants to be the one who protects the world from I's fighters. SIS. He wants to escalate the negotiations crisis and then try to solve the problem. ”

Turkey currently has more than five million refugees, four million of them Syrians

Ozpek said Erdogan's strategy posed a major danger. “If these negotiations are successful, Turkey will be the one that guarantees security to Europe, but if they fail, it will be Turkey who will harm European security