The Balkans - a hub of worldwide terrorist network

of a Muslim in a Macedonian village

The Macedonian government’s recent concession to Muslim lobbying, which demanded women be allowed to wear head scarves in photographs accompanying official documentation

The increasing presence of Islamic banking, directed by financial institutions in the Arab world and Turkey, in Bosnia and Kosovo, which pulls local businesses and societies into the Islamic orbit; the eventual goal is one of regulating goods sold and purchased to be only those allowed according to Islamic law

The confirmed presence of terrorist-linked charities, such as the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, in Kosovo, Bosnia and Albania, which remain despite having been blacklisted in other countries

The dedicated efforts of foreign-organized Islamic charities to ‘red-educate’ Muslim orphans in Kosovo and Bosnia

The success of Islamists in the Kosovo Albanian government to install sympathetic officials throughout the civil administration, according to American special investigators

The violent disruption in of an ethno-music concert in Novi Pazar by a local Wahhabi group

Violent incidents concerning control of local mosques instigated by Wahhabi groups, especially in Bosnia, Serbian Sandzak and Macedonia

The previously unknown practice of female circumcision appearing in Serbia’s Sandzak region and, reportedly, in some Macedonian Muslim villages

The startling appearance of over 3,000 Balkan Wahhabis at the funeral of extremist leader Jusuf Barcic in Bosnia in April 2007

Ongoing attempts by Saudi and other Islamic charities to provide funding, and religious scholarships for study abroad, to universities in Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and Serbia

Increasingly prominent ‘show of force’ public gatherings by Wahhabi youth groups in tourist locales in Macedonia and Montenegro, sponsored by Arab funding through NGOs

Ongoing proselytization efforts by foreign Islamist groups, including Tablighi Jamaat, through various Balkan countries

The appearance of a small number of Balkan volunteers in the al Qaeda training camps of Pakistan and Afghanistan

Conclusions and Recommendations



There are two threats associated with Islamic radicalism in the Balkans; that of terrorism and that of forcible social change. While neither present an immediate emergency situation, without vigilance and more attentive intelligence activity, the existing threats can only multiply as well-funded and extraordinarily patient foreign Islamic movements continue to exploit areas made vulnerable by poverty, war, corruption and ethnic nationalism. The following recommendations are made with an eye to both past failures and future concerns.

As ...