(francais / italiano / english)

Jihad dal Kosovo? Che bella scoperta...

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Flashbacks / News / Par Daniel Salvatore Schiffer
1) 4 arresti tra Brescia e Kosovo. La 'mente' del gruppo, un cittadino kosovaro che ha vissuto diverso tempo in Italia
2) Inside Kacanik, Kosovo's jihadist capital (The Telegraph, 23 Aug 2015)


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FLASHBACKS:

29 settembre 2001 – Il Manifesto: E' AMERICANA LA PISTA BALCANICA CHE PORTA A BIN LADEN (Tommaso Di Francesco)

Feb. 1, 2004 – Associated Press: ARMY INTELLIGENCE CHIEF SAYS AL-QAIDA IN KOSOVO

Apr. 25, 2004 – Borba: MILITANT ISLAMIST TRAINING CAMPS IN BOSNIA AND KOSMET (by Madeline Zapeezda)
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/borba042105.htm

Aug. 1, 2004 – BBC Monitoring: TERRORISM EXPERT SAYS  MILITANT ISLAMISTS "PREPARING CADRES" IN SOUTH SERBIA
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/borba080104.htm

Nov. 24, 2004 – Dan: AL-QAEDA IS BUILDING TERRORIST CAMPS IN KOSOVO (by M.B Trajkovic)
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/dan112404.htm

Apr. 18, 2006 – Associated Press: 'AL QAEDA MEN HAVE BEEN TRANSITING BALKANS FOR YEARS’
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/ap041706.htm
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\04\18\story_18-4-2006_pg4_2

May 6, 2006 – Open Broadcast Network TV - Bosnia: ISLAMIC TERRORIST TELLS BOSNIAN TV THAT UNITED STATES WAS TRYING TO RECRUIT MUJAHEDEEN TO FIGHT IN KOSOVO WAR 

Jan. 12, 2012 – BIRN: KOSOVO TURNS BLIND EYE TO ILLEGAL MOSQUES (Besiana Xharra)
Kosovo’s municipal authorities continue to ignore the growing number of illegally built mosques, which now total more than a hundred...

Rassegna JUGOINFO 28/6/2015: IL KOSOVO TRA RADICALIZZAZIONE E EMIGRAZIONE


NEWS:

ERDOGAN "LAUNDERS MILLIONS BY BUILDING MOSQUES IN KOSOVO" (Aug. 17, 2015)
Millions of euros are flowing from Turkey to Kosovo "through illegal routes, bypassing banks," according to the Pristina-based Albanian language daily Zeri...
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2015&mm=08&dd=17&nav_id=95116

ALBANIAN TERRORISTS AS OFFICIAL NATO PEACEKEEPING MISSION IN KOSOVO MEMBERS – PHOTO EVIDENCE (by Grey Carter, August 23, 2015)
... the Albanian nationalist guy, wrapped in greater Albanian flag, Lami, who is at the same time – a Swiss peacekeeper!... 

RESURRECTING THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE: ERDOGAN LAUNDERS MILLIONS BY BUILDING MOSQUES IN KOSOVO (by Grey Carter, August 29, 2015)
... “TIKA keeps its finances secret in most cases, since there is no official data on how much money is being invested. There is suspiction that the money is being brought in illegally and not via bank accounts"...
https://theremustbejustice.wordpress.com/2015/08/29/resurrecting-the-ottoman-empire-erdogan-launders-millions-by-building-mosques-in-kosovo/

LA TURQUIE D’ERDOĞAN À L’ASSAUT DU KOSOVO (Zeri | Traduit par Belgzim Kamberi | jeudi 10 septembre 2015)
Mosquées, écoles coraniques, patrimoine ottoman : les financements turcs affluent au Kosovo, via de puissantes institutions d’État comme la TIKA, la Diyanet ou la fondation des Vakuf. Il est pourtant impossible de connaître le montant des sommes versées — qui arriveraient même parfois en liquide. Faute de transparence, tous les soupçons sont permis. Zëri a mené l’enquête...
http://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/articles/la-turquie-d-erdogan-au-kosovo.html

KOSOVO – CORRIDOR FOR RADICAL ISLAM INFLUX INTO EUROPE, SAYS DIPLOMAT IN MOSCOW (November 3, 2015 – by Grey Carter)
Kosovo could become a corridor for radical Islam breaking into Europe since the European Union is not yet ready to solve the migrant problem, Serbian ambassador to Russia Slavenko Terzic said on Tuesday...
https://theremustbejustice.wordpress.com/2015/11/03/kosovo-corridor-for-radical-islam-influx-into-europe-says-diplomat-in-moscow/


Par Daniel Salvatore Schiffer:

Interview à la première chaîne de la radio suisse romande (RTS francophone), autour de son livre "Le Testament du Kosovo - Journal de guerre" (Editions du Rocher).
"Cet entretien de dix minutes, où je raconte la guerre du Kosovo, dont les crimes de guerre de l'OTAN et de l'UCK (le trafic d'organes humains prélevés sur des prisonniers serbes), a été diffusée lors du JT de 12h30' de ce lundi 12 octobre 2015."
http://www.rts.ch/la-1ere/programmes/l-invite-du-12h30/7140400-daniel-salvatore-schiffer-raconte-la-guerre-du-kosovo-12-10-2015.html

Un extrait (bonnes feuilles) du "Testament du Kosovo" est également publié sur le site de l'hebdomadaire français "L'Express":
http://www.lexpress.fr/culture/le-testament-du-kosovo-journal-de-guerre-editions-du-rocher-extrait_1730075.html

Article à la "une" du journal en ligne français "Mediapart", sur les récents attentats de Paris, l'Etat Islamique et la guerre en Bosnie (ex-Yougoslavie), dont bon nombre de Serbes ont été victimes. Il y a là aussi un long extrait du livre "Le Testament du Kosovo - Journal de guerre".
http://blogs.mediapart.fr/blog/daniel-salvatore-schiffer/231115/vingtieme-anniversaire-des-accords-de-dayton-letat-islamique-de-la-guerre-en-bosnie-a

Daniel S. Schiffer:
Le Testament du Kosovo. Journal de guerre
Paris: Editions du Rocher, 2015
512 pages, 21 euro – ISBN-13: 978-2268079165
https://www.cnj.it/documentazione/bibliografia.htm#schiffer2015


=== 1 ===

http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2015/12/01/terrorismo-arrestati-4-kosovari-in-italia-armi-in-pugno-inneggiavano-allisis-sul-web/2266780/

Terrorismo, 4 arresti tra Brescia e Kosovo: “Legami accertati con jihad in Siria”. In chat: “Bergoglio sarà l’ultimo Papa”

La 'mente' del gruppo, un cittadino kosovaro che ha vissuto diverso tempo in Italia, è stato arrestato in Kosovo dalle autorità di Pristina, mentre gli altri tre sono stati fermati tra Veneto e Lombardia, dove risiedevano da anni. La polizia: "Collegamenti con terrorista daesh Muhaxheri"

di F. Q. | 1 dicembre 2015

Armi in pugno, webcam di fronte, inno alla jihad. Sono quattro icittadini kosovari coinvolti nell’operazione “Van Damme” della Polizia nei confronti di una presunta organizzazione che propagandava l’ideologia della guerra santa islamica. Non solo. Il gruppo, secondo gli investigatori, aveva “collegamenti diretti accertati con filiere jihadiste attive in Siria, riconducibili al noto terrorista kosovaro daesh Lavdrim Muhaxheri“. Il particolare è emerso dalla conferenza stampa della Procura di Brescia in merito all’operazione.

Due dei quattro quatto kosovari fermati nel corso del blitz antiterrorismo della Polizia saranno espulsi (uno con provvedimento adottato dal ministro dell’Interno per motivi di terrorismo internazionale, l’altro con decreto del Questore di Brescia), un terzo è stato sottoposto a sorveglianza speciale (con contestuale ritiro del passaporto o di altro documento valido per l’espatrio) e il quarto, bloccato in Kosovo, è stato arrestato.

La richiesta di sorveglianza speciale, utilizzata per la prima volta in questo ambito, è stata avanzata direttamente dal Procuratore nazionale antimafia e antiterrorismo, Franco Roberti. Quello che è considerato la ‘mente’ del gruppo, un cittadino kosovaro che ha vissuto diverso tempo in Italia, è stato arrestato in Kosovo dalle autorità di quel paese, mentre gli altri tre sono stati arrestati in Italia, dove risiedevano da anni. Contestualmente agli arresti, gli investigatori hanno fatto scattare una serie di perquisizioni a Brescia, Vicenza e Perugia a carico di persone, la cui posizione è ancora al vaglio. Gli investigatori stanno esaminando il materiale web.

Gli uomini finiti in manette avevano pubblicato sul web una serie di foto in cui erano ritratti con le armi in pugno. Dalle indagini è emerso che i quattro si erano fortemente radicalizzati, ponendosi su posizioni estremistiche e assumendo atteggiamenti tipici dei militanti dell’Isis. Nelle loro chat c’erano anche minacce nei confronti del Papa nelle chat degli indagati, che annunciavano “visite dai parte dei terroristi dello Stato Islamico”. Gli investigatori hanno trovato frasi come “questo sarà l’ultimo Papa”. Il blitz, in collaborazione con le autorità kosovare, è scattato contemporaneamente in alcune città italiane e in Kosovo. L’indagine che ha portato agli arresti di oggi è stata condotta dagli uomini della Direzione centrale della Polizia di prevenzione, l’Antiterrorismo italiano, e da quelli della Digos di Brescia.

Il kosovaro arrestato, Samet Imishti, aveva come base logistica la cittadina di Chiari, in provincia di Brescia. L’affiliato al daesh, arrestato questa mattina in Kosovo, la utilizzava per i suoi spostamenti dall’Italia. Nella stessa abitazione è stato rintracciato il fratello del capo della cellula, Ismail Imishti: per lui il ministero dell’Interno ha firmato un provvedimento di espulsione per motivi di terrorismo. Un altro cittadino di origine kosovara, associato al gruppo di presunti terroristi, è stato invece rintracciato in provincia di Savona ed espulso dal territorio nazionale con un provvedimento a firma del questore di Brescia.

Il quarto fermato è invece un cittadino macedone residente in provincia di Vicenza a cui il procuratore nazionale Antimafia ha avanzato la proposta per l’applicazione della misura di sorveglianza speciale per motivi di terrorismo con il contestuale ritiro del passaporto.


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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/kosovo/11818659/Inside-Kacanik-Kosovos-jihadist-capital.html

Inside Kacanik, Kosovo's jihadist capital

Tiny town boasts only 30,000 people, yet two dozen local men have gone to fight jihad in Iraq and Syria

By Colin Freeman, Chief Foreign Correspondent
23 Aug 2015

Nestling in a wooded valley that its citizens laid their lives down to defend, the town of Kacanik in southern Kosovo is fiercely proud of its war dead. 
Well-kept cemeteries include nearly 100 victims of Serb-led ethnic cleansing in 1999, while in the town centre, a statue clutching an RPG honours fallen members of Brigade 162 of the Kosovan Liberation Army. 
But a decade and a half on from the war that brought about Kosovo's independence, there is rather less pride in Kacanik's new crop of warriors. 
In the last three years, some 24 local menfolk have gone to fight for jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq, giving the town of just 30,000 people an unwanted reputation as the jihadist capital of the Balkans.
To add to the sense of shame, one of them, a 25-year-old recruiter named Lavdrim Muhaxheri, has committed atrocities as gruesome as any of those carried out in Kacanik in 1999, when British troops unearthed a mass grave containing 81 bodies.
Last summer, in an act that sent shockwaves across Kosovo, Muhaxheri posted Facebook pictures of himself apparently beheading another man suspected of spying against the Islamic State. Another shows him executing a Syrian man using an RPG. 
"Muhaxheri has given Kacanic a name as the most radical city in Kosovo, if not the whole Balkans," said Musli Verbani, a local imam, who claims that hardliners forced him from Kacanik's Islamic Association four years ago. "I warned that this kind of thing was coming, but no-one listened." 
Kosovo, of course, is not alone among European nations in acquiring its own equivalent to Britain's Jihadi John. But for a nation of just 1.8 million people, it now punches well above its weight in terms of the number of citizens joining Isil. 
The interior ministry estimates that some 300 Kosovans have followed in Muhaxheri's’ footsteps, making Kosovo Europe's biggest contributor per capita. Along with neighbouring Albania, which has fielded around 200, and nearby Bosnia, which around 160, it is now seen as a potential launch pad for Isil in its bid to establish a new front against Europe in the Balkans.
What also alarms Western security officials, though, is why any Kosovans would join Isil's fanatics at all. 
After all, back in 1999, it was the West that rescued Kosovo's mainly Muslim population, with Nato bombing raids that halted the campaign of ethnic cleansing by Serb extremists. 
Since then it has been staunchly pro-Western, with the capital, Pristina, boasting both a statue of Bill Clinton and a road named after George W Bush, who was president when Kosovo formally gained independence in 2008. There are even young Kosovans named "Tony" in honour of Tony Blair.
Most Kosovans also follow moderate Islam that allows bars on the same street as mosques, and which is enshrined in a new constitution promoting the diversity suppressed during Communism. 
Yet those same liberal values have also allowed less tolerant voices to flourish, including hardline Islamic charities that arrived during the chaotic post-civil war years. 
Such is the foothold of radicalism in towns like Kacanik that last week, its modest town hall received a personal visit from Kosovo's interior minister, Skender Hyseni.
"Kosovo is a multi-cultural state, not a terrorist one," he told assembled officials, speaking at a conference table decked out with the American and Kosovan flags. "Those going overseas are joining groups that spread violence and terror.” 
In its defence, the Kosovan government argues that other European nations actually have higher rates of radicalisation if it is counted per head of Muslim population. 
But since Muhaxheri’s shocking Facebook post last summer, Mr Hyseni has backed words with action, arresting around 100 suspected extremists, including the grand mufti of the main central mosque in Pristina. 
Prosecutions are already pending of various recruiting networks, including one that passed messages via go-betweens at a kebab shop near the Bill Clinton statue. 
It is, however, already too late, according to Mr Verbani, the Kacanik imam. 
A former KLA fighter, he personifies the moderate face of Kosovan Islam. He studied in Cairo and speaks fluent Arabic, yet looked just like another drinker in the cafe bar where he met The Telegraph, wearing neither a beard nor robes. 
It was precisely that secular outlook that he found himself having to defend as far back as 2006, when a confrontation with a young local radical named Jeton Raka turned violent. 
"At first Jeton was just another good Kacanik kid, but he became more extremist by the day,” said Mr Verbani. “He said the government of Kosovo was against faith, and that school taught children to be unbelievers. I told him he couldn't speak like that at my mosque, and eventually he came to my house, saying 'I will burn you and your family', and petrol bombed my car. Even then, though, the municipality and the police didn't help me."
Raka is now believed to be in Syria along with Muhaxheri, while the government crackdown has largely driven the rest of Kacanik’s radical fringe out of town. Even so, locals remain reluctant to talk about the town's most infamous son, although in such a small community, most know someone now fighting abroad. 
Among them is Sadek Dema whose nextdoor neighbour, Hetem Dema, 41, was killed in January after apparently going to fight with Isil's rival al-Qaeda faction Jabat al-Nusra. 
"He fought in the KLA and was always a good and religious man, although he never showed signs of being radical," said Mr Dema, as Hetem’s five year-old son, Harith, cycled past on his bicycle. 
"Nobody is my father now," Harith shouted out, before Mr Dema could usher him out of earshot. "Now my uncles look after me." 
Quite why Kacanik in particular has become such a hotbed of radicalism is unclear. Some cite its closeness to the border with Macedonia, where they say hardline preachers remain unchecked. Others blame the same lack of prospects that blight everywhere in Kosovo, where the annual GDP is only £2,500 and where youth unemployment is up to 60 per cent. 
That same poverty, they also point out, has made Kosovo fertile ground for Islamic charities from the likes of Saudi Arabia, which offer education and welfare programs but also peddle a hardline vision. 
Arbana Xharra, a Kosovan journalist who has investigated their activities, says that anyone who speaks ill of them can find themselves denounced and threatened as "Islamophobic". 
"I've had to change my kids' school after I got messages online from people saying they would cut my children’s throats - they even knew what time they went to class," she said. 
Like many moderate Kosovans, she also points the finger at Turkey, whose Islamist government has funded networks of mosques across its Ottoman-era provinces of Kosovo, Bosnia and Albania. And while the Turkish government has denied recent claims that has offered tacit support for Isil in Syria, Kosovans are not the only ones to voice concerns. 
One senior diplomat from a moderate Arab regime recently told The Telegraph that radicalism would foster in the Balkans as long as Turkey's influence remained unchecked. "The EU's best chance s to get countries Kosovo and Albania into its club," he warned.
That is a view echoed by Ramadan Ilazi, Kosovo's 30-year-old deputy minister for EU integration, who says the EU is being too slow in accepting Kosovo's membership bid. Kosovo’s constitution, he says, is everything that a liberal EU bureaucrat could want, complete with a national anthem that has only music rather than words so "as not to offend anyone". 
Yet to this day, Kosovans cannot even travel to Europe without visa, giving small town youth in places like Kacanik little chance to broaden their horizons. 
"Kosovo was built as an antidote to nationalism and the causes of the war," said Mr Ilazi, who has a picture on his office wall of him shaking President Clinton’s hand as a 14-year-old boy. "But when people don't see tangible results of their desire to become part of Europe, that allows radicals to suggest that Europe doesn't want us."
Still, with Kosovo still also suffering problems with corruption and organised crime, and with Brussels suffering enlargement fatigue, most estimates are that it may be another decade before Pristina enters the Brussels club. That, gives the radicals plenty more time to urge men in towns like Kacanik to head East rather than West.