Der Standard: Jihadists recruiting Balkan diaspora children

According to local media, Beran A. cousins, who live in Pitarnica, are ashamed of what their relative from Ternitz in Austria had planned. Gostivar City Municipal Authorities still do not want to comment. It's learned that Beran A. has been in his parents ' homeland often as children, but rarely lately. His parents are religious, but certainly not radical, the village residents say, conveys albinfo.at. Many families in the region are strongly patriarchal and conservative. And many of them carry identity conflicts stemming from political conflicts.

Recruits for IS

Beran A., like tens of thousands of other families, moved from the Balkans to Austria in recent decades because they wanted to escape unemployment and poor living conditions. The plan was: Children should have a better life. The fact that one of these children wanted to stage an attack on the new country seems ironic. But given the fact that the attacker who killed four people and injured 20 in Vienna in 2020, also came from an Albanian family from Northern Macedonia and, like Beran A., could have been recruited by “Islamic State”, that immediately leads to the question: if young people whose families come from the region are particularly vulnerable to radical Islam?

In recent years, young people from Northern Macedonia have been recruited by terrorist organisations, and as a result, some have been sentenced to prison. After the terrorist organisation Islamic Jihad was controlled in Syria and Iraq, the number declined.

The idealology that continues to function today often comes from Iran, Iraq, or Syria. Security expert and criminal law Mitasin Beqiri, who lives in Gostivar, tells STANDARD that it is possible that Beran A. to have been radicalised by groups and organisations operating in the Balkans. “Radical youth groups are located in Skopje, Tetovo, Gostivar and Debar,” explains Beqiri for STANDARD. It requires Islamic clergymen to fulfill their duty to prevent this negative phenomenon and not to support or promote extremist radicalism, albinfota broadcasts.

The Radicals Very Active in Social Networkings

The propaganda of salafisto-gihadite groups in northern Macedonia, which is mostly written in Albanian, targets Albanian Muslim males. Some of them have now adapted their extremist language to avoid classifying as hate languages. One of the known Islamists is Bayul Mujazir. His YouTube channel, for example, showed a video of a woman allegedly being held in a Saudi prison. The woman defended in the video that “blood should be shed” and that people must sacrifice themselves. Another group is called My Nasheedi and calls for jihad.

In a study on this topic from October 2023, authors Bledar Feta and Ioans Armakolas conclude that online space, particularly social media, is the main risk of radicalisation in northern Macedonia. The sermons, teachings and statements of radical imams would be translated into local languages and charged. Internet games are even being used to radicalize young people, but more radical messages can be found in Facebook and telegram groups.

The Goal, Children of Migrants

Interestingly, some groups especially try to address the children of the Balkan diaspora living in Central or Western Europe. Radical Islamists “focus on identifying vulnerable Muslim youths who have experienced ethnic conflict, economic inequality, disappointment with local politics or disappointment with Western integration. These populations are the main objectives of radical Islamic propaganda, which allegedly protects Muslims from discrimination and injustice in the West”, the albinfo.at says in the study.

Beran A case. and unclear effects

The 19-year-old Beran A., which comes from an Albanian family of northern Macedonia and lives in Austria, illustrates the urgency of the problem. Beran A. Suspected of planning a terrorist attack, which raises questions about the depth of its radicalisation. It remains unclear whether his radicalising influence came from groups in Austria or in the Balkans.

The situation is particularly alarming, because even in the first case of the attackers in 2020 in Vienna, which also had Albanian origin from Northern Macedonia, show that young people from the Balkan diaspora may be particularly sensitive to such extremist groups.