The Rise of Radical Islam in Macedonia

[Vangelovski]

Sorry, couldn't find the older thread. The mayor of Debar (Albanian) claims that Balkan security services are conning Albanians to go and fight in Syria so that they can cause trouble within the Albanian community.

http://www.dnevnik.mk/?ItemID=ECA150...33F47FA7C83E44

[Volokin]

The Rise of Radical Islam in Macedonia

I think it's time to make a separate thread for the rise of Radical Islam in Macedonia as I have seen people posting on this topic in the Albanization thread.

The Albanization of Macedonia and the rise of Fundamentalist Islam in Macedonia are two separate things, so a clear distinction needs to be made.

Albanization is a Albanian nationalistic "movement".

Fundamentalist Islamization is a Islamic movement.

I don't agree that these two movements are connected. It's incorrect to label Albanian Nationalists as Fundamentalists and vice versa.

For example, the rise in mosque's being built in Macedonia. The mosque building is a way of marking their territory as Albanians (much like with a flag) and establishing Albanian domination over the area in a Albanian nationalistic sense rather than to explicitly spread Islam. We even see the Macedonian Government fighting back in this tit-for-tat Islam vs Christianity building war. The building of mosque's comes with the spread of Albanian culture rather than a spread of a more sinister Islamic motive. It's part of the Albanization of Macedonia, so it is part of that topic, rather than then the increase of Fundamentalist Islam of Macedonia.

Lastly, this also is not about Islamization of Macedonia per say, this is about the rise of Radical Islamic activities in Macedonia. Important difference.

To make it clear, I am using the words Radical and Fundamentalist in the same sense here. (If such a grouping of the terms is incorrect, please correct me.) I would post definitions here but it would be better for you to research yourself and hence why I don't think I need to explain why this is a security risk to Macedonia and the greater region.

The aim of this thread is just to provide evidence of such activities in Macedonia because this is an important topic.

[Volokin]

"Wahhabi" trend a growing worry in Macedonia
22/09/2010
A radical imam's remarks fuel controversy among the country's Muslims.

By Misko Talevski for Southeast European Times in Skopje – 21/09/10

Isa Beg mosque in Skopje is one of five where Wahhabis congregate.

Wahhabism is becoming a concern but does not represent a security threat, Macedonian Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska and visiting Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic agreed during talks at the weekend.

"These groups have been followed for over a year and at the moment they do not represent a great security threat to both countries. Still, there is the danger that the region can be a base for recruitment of terrorists," Dacic said after meeting with Jankulovska on Saturday (September 18th).

Over the past several months, groups affiliated with the conservative Wahhabi movement have taken control of five mosques, and the split among Macedonia's Muslims appears to be deepening. The Islamic Community (IVZ) is at sharp odds with hardliners led by Ramadan Ramadani.

IVC leader Sulejman Redzepi has called on the "government, the parties of Albanians in Macedonia, foreign diplomats, especially the embassies of the US and the EU, to support the IVZ and undertake [all] measures against these radical elements".

During Ramadan, radical Kosovo imam Sefket Krasnici preached at Skopje's "Chair" stadium, attracting a crowd of several thousand. He shocked the country with his denunciations of Mother Teresa, a native of the Skopje area whom many consider a saint.

"She belongs in the middle of Hell because she did not believe in Allah, the prophet and the Qur'an ... Even if she believed in God her belief was incomplete, with deficiencies. God does not accept such worship," Krasnici said.

Such remarks could only come from "sick minds" and do not reflect mainstream Muslim opinion, said Pande Lazarevski, a professor at Skopje University. "The Muslims in Macedonia are reasonable people and know which road is the right one," he told SETimes.

"Is this speech in the function of Macedonia's faster entry in NATO and the EU, and for increased investments? Who provides the logistics for such people to preach here?" Skopje resident Jovan Ristovski, 45, asked.

Particularly concerned are Muslims loyal to the IVZ.

"Every Muslim abhors this type of speech and way of thinking. People who have God in their mouth but the devil in their heart don't deserve attention. They simply don't know what the true human values are," said 37-year-old Imer Syleiman, an Albanian from Skopje.


Krasnici was reportedly invited by the NGO Kalaja Shkup, but no such NGO is listed in Macedonia's central registry.

"The Committee for Relations with Religious Communities is the sole authority that provides permits for foreigners to perform religious rituals, but only upon the request of a lawfully registered religious community, in this case the IVZ. Because we did not get a request from them, we did not issue a permit to Krasnici," explained Committee President Valentina Bozinovska.

Wahhabi leader Ramadani denied that he organised Krasnici's visit, but was full of praise for the outspoken imam.

"Had I called the guest, I would have been proud of it and would not hide [the fact]. He is a great intellectual, a Ph.D. with a rich career," Ramadani said.

http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2010/09/22/feature-02

Interesting information. It is good to see that normal, moderate Albanian Muslims are against such elements. Which exemplifies my original post because it shows the clear difference between Albanian Muslims and Radical Islamists in Macedonia.

[Sweet Sixteen]

(This is from 2007, about Tetovo, by Stephen Schwartz)

In the clash between Wahhabism and moderate Islam in the Balkans, the most prominent battleground at present is the poor but bustling city of Tetovo, in western Macedonia. Many local people are followers of the Bektashi Sufis, a gnostic order named for Hajji Bektash Veli (1209-1271), a Turkish-language poet and friend--some say rival--of Rumi. The Bektashis, like the Shias and the Turkish and Kurdish Alevis, revere Imam Ali. They are without doubt the most active and influential Sufi movement in the Balkans, but they are despised by Wahhabis, for several reasons.

First, they represent a liberal trend among the Shias, and Wahhabis loathe Shias even more than they hate Jews and Christians. Second, the Bektashis consume alcohol. And third, men and women are equals in Bektashi rituals. Several Bektashi babas, as their teachers are known, have insisted to me that they are the "most progressive" element in global Islam, and they back that statement up with a long, proven, and fervent commitment to secular governance and popular education.

Wahhabis and Bektashis are presently locked in an armed standoff at the Bektashi complex known as the Harabati Tekke, in Tetovo. This large enclave of varied structures, many of them dating from the 18th century, is famous throughout the region, and appears on Tetovo's municipal shield. Under Titoite communism, it was nationalized and turned into a hotel and entertainment complex. Since the fall of the Communist regime, the government has failed to settle the matter of ownership. In 2002, however, in the aftermath of Slav-Albanian ethnic fighting, a group of Wahhabis including Arabs, equipped with automatic weapons, seized a major building inside the Harabati complex, formerly used for Sufi meditation.


===

[Volokin]

Thanks for sharing that, interesting stuff, will try and find out more.

Removed Wahhabi from the first post as it is not the only form of Radical Islam in Macedonia. Radical and Fundamentalist as words cover all the sects of such Islam.

[Volokin]

In 2002, a group of armed members of the Islamic Community of Macedonia (ICM), the legally recognized organization which claims to represent all Muslims in Macedonia, invaded the Arabati Baba Tekke in an attempt to reclaim the tekke as a mosque, although the facility has never functioned as such. Subsequently the Bektashi community of Macedonia has sued the Macedonian government for failing to restore the tekke to the Bektashi community, pursuant to a law passed in the early 1990s returning property previously nationalized under the Yugoslav government. The law, however, deals with restitution to private citizens, rather than religious communities. The ICM claim to the tekke is based upon their contention to represent all Muslims in Macedonia; and indeed, they are one of two Muslim organizations recognized by the government, both Sunni. The (Shi'i) Bektashi community filed for recognition as a separate religious community with the Macedonian government in 1993, but the Macedonian government has refused to recognize them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabati_Baba_Te%E1%B8%B1e

http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/pdf/cedime-se-macedonia-muslims.PDF

[Volokin]

Stephen Sulejman Schwartz is Executive Director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, an international network of moderate Muslim scholars, clerics, intellectuals and journalists in more than 20 countries. He was born in 1948 to a Jewish father and Protestant Christian mother. Schwartz was not a member of any faith until 1997, and accepted Islam during a visit to Bosnia-Hercegovina. He has had an abundant career in the field of literature and journalism. His articles have been published in the world's major media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, the Toronto Globe and Mail, and others. He is currently a contributor to the Weekly Standard and the Huffington Post. He is a leading expert on the problems of Muslims in the Balkans and a critic of Islamic fundamentalism, especially the Wahhabi sect and the radical Muslim Brotherhood.

Republika: Mr. Schwartz, you follow very closely developments within Islam. You are also a very strong critic of Islamic fundamentalism. What are the risks you see from Islamist extremism in the Balkans, and in Macedonia?

The Balkan Muslims have been targeted, clearly, by radicals in the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as representatives of the Wahhabi movement. This is obvious to anybody who visits the region and knows the situation there. As the most outrageous example, I would cite the terroristic campaign against the Bektashi Sufis of the Harabati Baba teqe in Tetovo, conducted by Wahhabi radicals with the complicity of the official Islamic Community of Macedonia.. This situation has been recognized and criticized by the U.S. State Department for 10 years.


A second indicator of the bad situation in the Macedonian Muslim communities is the local activity of the so-called Islamic Youth Forum, known by its Albanian initials as FRI, which in 2011 hosted a lecture on European Islam by Hani Ramadan, brother of the "Muslim intellectual superstar" Tariq Ramadan. The Ramadan brothers are grandsons of Hassan Al-Banna, creator of the Muslim Brotherhood, and have played notable roles in the spread of radical ideology among the Muslims in the West. Tariq Ramadan has been associated with the Qatar-based hate preacher Yusuf Al-Qaradawi and is now a leading figure in the "European Muslim Network" (EMN).

That the EMN held its June 2013 General Assembly in Macedonia is extremely disturbing. Even more alarming is the extension of the EMN into Kosova and Serbia, though its intentions may be different in each place. In Kosova the EMN aims to radicalize the Muslims and mobilize them against the secular state, while in Serbia the EMN and the radicals that stand behind it appear more politically opportunistic – they simply want influence with the official, non-Muslim institutions. But the position of the EMN is adequately revealed by its appeals for prayers for "the brothers in Guantánamo."

In addition, Hani Ramadan, whom the EMN sponsored in Skopje, had already become notorious when he was dismissed from the mosque he directed in Geneva, as well as from a Swiss state teaching post, for publishing an article in France defending the punishment of stoning for adulterers. Stoning and other such practices do not exist among Balkan Muslims and there is no excuse for agitation among them in favor of such ideological fundamentalism.

Republika: You have extensive knowledge of developments in the region. What do you mean when you say that the situation of Islamic extremism in Macedonia is disastrous?

Balkan Islam has been neglected both by the Muslim powers and by the West, yet in my view it represents the healthiest characteristics in global Islam today. Balkan Muslims are genuine and indigenous European Muslims who have developed a unique and forward-looking world view. For this reason I have long argued that Balkan Muslims should become the recognized leaders of Islam in Western as well as southeast Europe, with a stronger spiritual and intellectual influence worldwide. A surrender to radicalism in the Balkan Islamic communities would make such developments impossible. Balkan Muslims should provide leadership for Arab, Central Asian, and other Muslims as the Russian Muslim progressives of the Jadidiyya movement did in the past.

Republika: You claim that Wahhabi and Brotherhood radicals in Macedonia have close contacts with the leader of the Kosova Muslims, Naim Tërnava. Do you have concrete information about these groups and their aims?


The current chief cleric of Kosova, the pro-Wahhabi Naim Tërnava, behind and to the left of the late Mu'ammar Al-Qadhdhafi. Directly left of and next to Al-Qadhdhafi stands former Bosnian chief Islamic cleric Mustafa Cerić.
The connections between Tërnava and the radicals in Macedonia are well known, as seen in his past approval of the spurious European Council for Fatwas and Research [ECFR]. This is a dangerous, ideological body that claims to provide guidance for European Muslims but which is composed almost entirely of Arab and African Muslim fundamentalists, with no involvement at all by the French Muslim leaders, who are the outstanding moderate Muslims in Western Europe.
The radicals have tried, with the assistance of Tërnava and his clique, to import the conflicts of the failed "Arab Spring" and the aftermath of its collapse, which have aggravated the existing extremist tendencies, into the Balkans.

Republika: Kosova is a constitutionally secular state in which women play leading political rules, none of them appearing in anything other than modern dress, and fanatical Islamist moral standards are unpopular among them. Why do you think that radical Islam is reaching for control over Kosova Muslims?

The European Union, the United Nations, and even the U.S. State Department have failed to assist Kosova in efficiently modernizing its political, legal, and social institutions. Discontent with what I have called the "international humanitarian mafia" is high in Kosova. The radicals view this as a field of opportunity and appeal to the disaffected while also attempting to buy the loyalty of those in need economically.

Still, as in the Bosnian war, the current Syrian civil war reminds us that while ideology and money are crucial to sustaining radical Islamist movements, a sense of protest, anxiety, and a desire to defend Islam develops naturally when Muslims suffer oppression. But I do not think the instinct toward political protest of Kosovar Albanians will lead them to radical Islam. In Kosova the extremists attempting to take full control of the official clerical apparatus are, I believe, opposed overwhelmingly by the moderate majority of believers.

Republika: You claim that radical Islamists are reaching for control over Kosovar Muslims. What about Muslims in Macedonia? Who controls them? Do such groups have close relations with the Islamic Community of Macedonia and its leader?

To emphasize the comments I made in response to the first question, I believe the Islamic Community of Macedonia has revealed its fanatical agenda by its persecution of the Bektashis in Tetovo as well as by its hospitality to the Ramadan brothers and the EMN. Thus, we must conclude that the Islamic Community of Macedonia is already under the control of radicals from outside the region. The attacks on the Harabati Baba teqe are a disgrace to Macedonia, its history, and its people, and should never have been tolerated.

Republika: Are these radical structures connected with political figures in Macedonia and the region and how strong are those ties?

I cannot comment on specific political involvements by Muslim radicals in Macedonia. Such links are the subject of much speculation. I do believe, however, that certain Christian Macedonian political trends favor the radicalization of the Muslims. While this seems paradoxical or even absurd, a strategy by non-Muslim political leaders that subsidizes the radicals with the goal of marginalizing the moderate Muslims as well as dividing Muslim-minority communities, such as the Albanians in Macedonia, is visible in Serbia and Russia. Serbia and Russia both have their "state-approved" Muslim "representatives" who promote the regimes in power by sowing confusion among their Muslim opponents, who are generally moderate.

Republika: How would you describe the internal conflict within Albanian Muslim society regarding different interpretations of the Islamic religion? It is obvious that many moderate Muslims in Macedonia are afraid of the trends coming from Middle East but they are quiet about this.

The effort to penetrate, infiltrate the leadership, and dominate the Balkan Muslim communities by radicals from the Middle East has produced differing reactions according to the sociology of the country in which it takes place. Macedonian Muslims, whether ethnically Slav or Albanian or Turkish, are an apparent minority in the republic and the Albanians of Macedonia, in particular, feel they are objects of discrimination. They therefore have a tendency to accept defensively their religious and political leadership – which in the area of faith has been imposed upon them – as protectors and representatives against the hostility of non-Muslims. Tension with their neighbors produces a distorted impulse toward "Muslim unity" and reluctance to criticize their own official elite. In addition, the Macedonian Albanian Muslim community, being poor in financial and other resources, is a natural target for well-funded extremists coming from abroad. Muslims and Macedonian Albanian Christians should not remain silent about this. It is imperative that they defend their local and historic traditions against manipulation and exploitation by those whose effect will be to undermine their position in society, and to further diminish, even dangerously, respect for their religious, social, ethnic, and political rights.

Republika: What is your stand on the conflict between the Islamic Community of Macedonia (ICM) and the Bektashi community in the country?


The hostility of the official Islamic Community of Macedonia toward the Bektashis in the country is disgraceful and despicable. The Bektashis are a major cultural and spiritual influence in Albanian life, and the Macedonian authorities should assist them in defending themselves against radical aggression. Above all, given the discrimination against the Macedonian Orthodox Church by Serbian clerical authorities, the Macedonian government should recognize that it has an interest in preserving religious pluralism, not in supporting monopoly status among religious believers. I have long advocated an alliance between the Macedonian Orthodox Church, the Bektashis, and the Albanian Catholics in Macedonia to oppose both the encroachments of Serbian usurpers in the Christian churches and the forced radicalization of the Muslims. The Macedonian state should support and protect such an alliance, based on official secularism.

Republika: The American author Christopher Deliso has been writing about the influence of certain Pakistani-based Islamic organizations on the Macedonian Muslims especially in the west part of the country. What is your reaction to this?

Deliso wrote a book called The Coming Balkan Caliphate. That is ridiculous. Deliso obviously does not know or care that a caliphate would have to be established among Muslims on a global basis and centered in the most powerful Muslim state. We are no longer in the 13th century when an isolated local caliphate could appear in Muslim Spain or conflicting caliphates could function for a time in the Middle East. A caliphate would be the object of rivalry over its mere location, and it is impossible to imagine its emergence in the Balkans. Deliso is obviously unaware that Slav Muslims and Albanian Muslims do not love each other much, and that Albanian Muslims are resentful of Slav dominance in Balkan Islam. The notion of Albanian Muslims and Balkan Slav Muslims, especially Bosnians, uniting in a caliphate is senseless. The problem in western Macedonia involves the Islamic Community of Macedonia in Skopje, not wayward interlopers from Pakistan. What do Muslims in Macedonia have in common with agitators from Pakistan? If such elements appear they do so with the complicity of the official Islamic apparatus. I spend a great deal of time in Tetovo and other western Macedonian cities and have never found Pakistani influence to be of significance there.

The municipal shield of the city of Tetova, depicting the Harabati Baba teqe around which the town was built. The municipal authorities have failed to assist the Bektashis at the teqe against the Wahhabi interlopers.

Republika: Recently in the village of Oktisi [in the west of the country] local citizens blocked the road for the people who wanted to reconstruct an old church, which was not the case in the centuries preceding us.

It is imperative, and urgently so, for the people of Macedonia to avoid quarrels ostensibly based on religion. Macedonia has the opportunity to become an example of effective religious pluralism. Were the Macedonian government to expel the Wahhabi invaders from the Bektashi Harabati Baba teqe in Tetova and restore it to its founders and rightful owners, the authorities in Skopje would gain support from Sufis and traditionalists throughout the Muslim world. Similarly, if the Bektashis and other moderate Muslims assist the Macedonian Orthodox believers in their just effort for autocephaly, the Muslims would inspire a new attitude of cooperation in their ranks, with the Orthodox churches that are not infected with nationalist and imperialist pretensions. The latter include, in my view, the Montenegrin and Albanian Orthodox Christians.

Republika: How easily can religious tensions influence the common life of Albanians and Macedonians?

The addition of religious hostility to the recent, tense relationship between the two main communities in Macedonia is dangerous and can only aggravate an already difficult situation. The Macedonia government has included Albanian political partners. Religious believers should work to minimize confrontation and support reconciliation between the two ethnic groups.

Republika: Albanians in Macedonia are opposed to other ethnic communities having their own religious facilities, for example, a mosque for Roma people in the town of Prilep. Even the Turks have only one mosque in Skopje where Turkish is heard. Why is that so when the Muslim religion does not divide the believers on ethnic or other criteria?

If Albanian Muslim leaders in Macedonia oppose the cultural and traditional autonomy of other Muslims their position is un-Islamic and wrong. It is silly to pretend that Islam has not, like Judaism and Christianity, produced differentiation along ethnic and other lines. The idea that there is only "one Islam" is a radical myth. Albanian Muslim leaders in Macedonia, to emphasize, should support pluralism and avoid any temptations to hegemony.

Republika: Is it possible the traditions and heritage of moderate Islam will win against Islamic extremism?

We live in God's world, not Satan's world. Islam has survived for 14 centuries by rejecting extremism at various times and places. Islam will continue to flourish by returning to the straight path of moderate, traditional, conventional, spiritual, and even conservative (but not radical) Islam. Any other outcome is impossible for me to conceive.

Republika: You were born of a Jewish father and Protestant Christian mother, but your family was not religious. What was the main reason to convert to Islam?


Photograph by K.S. Rolph, reproduction prohibited without permission of the Center for Islamic Pluralism.
I reject the term "convert" because to "convert" is to change religions and I did not previously have a religion. I became a Muslim as a journalist writing on the Balkan wars of the 1990s, because I saw the Bosnian Muslims, while suffering greatly, hewing to moderate attitudes and fighting for the right to live with their non-Muslim neighbors rather than for jihad. In Sarajevo, I found the religion I had been looking for.
Republika: Which are the main reasons for people to accept radical Islam? Faith, violence, protection, money?

To again emphasize a previous point, in the past I was more inclined to see Islamist radicalism as a product of imported ideology and money rather than of oppression and suffering. Nevertheless, the horrors of Syria have reminded me that while the Bosnians were not jihadis, their martyrdom stirred great concern in every Muslim. Today, radical Islam has a renewed appeal of resistance to gross hostility and hatred directed against the Muslims. I still believe, as I have throughout my experience in studying the problem, that radical Islam is not a product of conviction, faith or knowledge of the religion. Radicalized Muslims tend to act out of fear, while faith inspires confidence and courage. More often, Muslims become radical to prove their faith to themselves as individuals or to their families and immediate communities rather than to express their understanding and devotion to the religion. Often, they are weak in faith and knowledge of Islam, and hope to make up for their self-perception of failure as Muslims by undertaking extreme actions.

http://www.islamicpluralism.org/2303/moderate-balkan-muslims-are-targeted-by-wahhabis

[George S.]

volokin what should the rom govt do or can do to keep these radical elements in Macedonia.There seems to be no end .The islamists want to take the whole of Macedonia.
Macedonia is fast becoming the homeland of the Albanians rather than a homeland for Macedonians.What is the solution???Is there a solution??

[Volokin]

The fight against radical Islamists in Macedonia is one which is in the scope of the Macedonian Government and their forces.

The Macedonian Government can remove the Wahhabi's from Tetovo's Mosques.
The Macedonian Government can remove the Wahhabi's from Skopje's mosques.
The Macedonian can stop the spread of radical Islam in Macedonia - it is within their powers to eliminate the threat.

See Bosnia:

Bosnia's law enforcement and various other agencies officers launched on Tuesday a major raid on the village of Gornja Maoca which is claimed to be a home to followers of the "radical Wahabbi" branch of Islam, targeting people whom authorities "suspect of destabilizing the country".

"The activities are carried out with an aim to locate and prosecute individuals suspected of undermining the territorial integrity and constitutional order and inciting ethnic, racial or religious hatred and intolerance," he said.

Some foreign Islamic fighters or Mujahideen, who stayed on after fighting alongside Bosnian Muslims against Serbs and Croats in the war, formed their own community in the village. They were joined by some local followers of the "Wahabbi" branch.

In December a Bosnian court indicted a group of radical Muslims on charges of "terrorism" and arms trafficking. It said they purchased and possessed weapons, explosives and various products suitable for making improvised explosive devices.

http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2010/02/02/11352.shtml

You would never see the Macedonian Police attempt a raid like that. Only happens under public pressure when five Macedonians are slaughtered at a lake...

Unlike the Albanian issue, this is something within Macedonia's reach to neutralize.

[Volokin]

Radical Islam "Threatens Macedonia"
The Skopje branch of the Islamic Religious Community, IVZ, in Macedonia has warned that radical Islamist groups following Wahhabi teachings are trying to take control of the central mosques in Skopje.

Sinisa Jakov Marusic

Skopje Mufti Ibrahim Shabani, who is the head of the IVZ branch in the capital, made the remarks after a fist fight broke out on Friday in one of the main Skopje mosques when the dismissed leadership of the Isa-Bey mosque refused to let in the newly appointed imam from IVZ to lead the prayer.

“This was a coup prepared by radicals who operate in Skopje,” Shabani said. “This criminal Wahhabi gang is known for its radical practices and misuse of Muslim believers.”

Shabani accused the discharged imam, Ramadan Ramadani, for leading the group that caused the incident.

“We will ask the authorities to break these radical groups and bring them to justice. This was proof that the Wahhabi structures go against the institutions and against the IVZ constitution, the rule book and the hierarchy,” Shabani said.

Ramadani denied any involvement with radical groups.

“I bear the responsibility for the incident. That was the hardest day of my life. But I do not accept the stigmatization that we are Wahhabi. Everyone can see and hear what we are saying at the prayers,” he told media yesterday.

The police announced that it had filed charges for physical attack against three people who allegedly participated in the brawl.

“It is a fact that radical Islam poses a global threat and that Macedonia cannot escape that threat,” police spokesman Ivo Kotevski told media. The Ministry of Interior is watching over the activities of radical Islam, he said, adding that the police will act when they have enough evidence against the suspects.

Meanwhile, local media cited unnamed IVZ sources who say that the main battle is being waged for supremacy over Skopje’s Jahys Pasha Mosque, Sultan Murat Mosque, Hudaverdi Mosque and Kjosekadi Mosque.

Last month an unnamed source from the IVZ told local daily Dnevnik that the supporters of radical Islam believe they can establish themselves by taking over mosques.

“They are aware that they cannot get the trust from the majority of believers with their previous, more or less aggressive tactics. So their goal is to become imams and through preaching to spread their interpretation of Islam,” the unnamed source said.

Mufti Shabani denounced these claims, arguing that “all mosques in Skopje are under IVZ control”.

In March, the British newspaper Sunday Times published an article in which the head of the IVZ Sulejman Rexhepi told the newspaper that radical groups have taken hold of some of Skopje’s mosques.

The IVZ immediately denounced the claim, saying that the newspaper's reporter never met with Rexhepi. However, the journalist told Balkan Insight that he stands by his text, offering tapes of the conversation as proof.

These latest developments in Macedonia come after a number of police operations against radical Islam across the Balkan region, includinga raid on a Wahhabi village in Bosnia in February, in which police arrested several people and seized a weapons stash.

The Islamic community in Macedonia is the second largest after the Orthodox Christians. The majority of ethnic Albanians in the country, who make one quarter of the population, are followers of Islam.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/radical-islam-threatens-macedonia

[Volokin]

Radical Islam deepens roots in Macedonia
May 5, 2010
Moderate Islam is being quickly replaced with Radical Muslim forces as mosques in Macedonia shift allegiance to the extremist Islamic teachings.

By Alexandar Spasovski , Skopje | Does radical Islam in Macedonia, who finances it and who is behind it?

British secret services recently warned the authorities of that banks in London are financing radical Islamist groups in Macedonia.

In a statement reported by the World Net Daily, an Agent of the British MI 5 warns that Wahabbists in Skopje are a serious threat and are engaged in recruiting soldiers for Al Qaeda.

Ethnic Albanians in Macedonia are overwhelmingly Muslim.

Recently the Skopje Mufti directly accused the Mayor of Skopje’s suburb of Chair, Izet Mexhiti, that he supports radicalized Islam by building mosques apart from the officially recognized Islamic Religious Community or the IRC. These mosques, says Mufti, are becoming Wahabbi nests.

Mexhiti had no comment on these allegations.

Islamic Religious Community also says that several other, new mosques in Skopje are not under their jurisdiction.

One of those mosques is a makeshift mosque in the municipal offices in the Chair. Izet Mexhiti is blamed for that also.

Everything we are doing there is under the bless of IRC, stated Mexhiti on March.

IRC said that events in makeshift mosque and the municipal offices are done without their permission.

But in a video that the Skopje TV station Sitel found, we clearly see that the Skopje Mufti took part in the opening of the makeshift mosque which is believed to be a radical Islamist nest.

Dilemma remains why IRC denies links to this mosque and attends their ceremonies? Are there any radical structures in the official IRC that nobody communicated to the public?

Wahhabism is becoming a serious issue in Macedonia and subject of numerous political speeches. Interior Minister recently confirmed that the authorities are monitoring all financial transactions coming into Macedonia.

British agents warned that the spread of Wahhabism in Macedonia could destabilize the region.

http://serbianna.com/news/archives/4529

[George S.]

like you say volokin the wahabists are regrouping the radical element is already developed in Macedonia.All they need is to be ready they got money & they will buy armanents.Macedonia needs to be ready for a resurgence of an armed conflict THese wahabists will stop at nothing and must be wiped out.Just think its all happening under their noses of the authorities.

[Vangelovski]

I was just going to make two points here. While Albanian nationalism and radical Islamism are too different things, I think that where radical Islamism does exist, it is highly interconnected with Albanian nationalism and they feed off each other. The two are a contradiction, but I think they use each other in a shallow way to recruit for their own causes.

The other point is that a sub section of the Macedonian Muslim population is probably more radicalised than the Albanian Islamists.

In terms of the terms fundamentalism and radicalism, they are two different things. Fundamentalism just means you believe some thing is fundamental or accept it as absolute truth - regardless of whether its good or bad. For example, I believe that free speech is fundamental to democratic governance. The general idea of the term radicalism is that a person is undertaking a radical (way out there - like terrorism) solution in relation to something he believes is of fundamental importance.

[Volokin]

I have to say I disagree.

I think that where Islamic Radicalism does exist, it is highly interconnected with Albanian nationalism and they feed off each other.

To start, I do agree in some cases Albanian Nationalism and Islamic Radicalism are connected, like in the ensuing protest in Skopje after the lake killings where Albanians chanted "God is One", "To be an Albanian is not a Crime", "Allah is Great", "Death to Christians", "War on Christians", "UÇK", "See you in the Mountains", "Greater Albania" and brandished Al Qaeda insignia."

This is the only situation where I can find both connected, and this is a special, isolated scenario given the circumstances of the situation. I don't think all the protesters were there for the same reason...

From my research I can concur the vast majority of Albanians are united by Albanianism and not a different Islamic movement and not both together either. I stand by my statement that Albanian Nationalism and Islamic Radicalism are two separate things which are not connected.

Albanians are united by the thought of Greater Albania, right? Only a minority of Albanians would be united by the thought of a Islamic Balkan state.

You don't need to look far to see how those two movements are separate. Look at Kosovo, and their ruling party, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, with Hashim Tachi as their leader. The DPK is a Albanian nationalistic party and in 2010, after a bill out went through parliament, they banned the headscarf (hijab) being worn in schools.

Yes, this party was born out of the UCK after the Kosovo war. Exactly the same as the DUI and Ahmeti, nationalists, but strictly secular, with no pro-Islamic policies seen.

Albanians are united by the ideology of Albanianism. Exceptions to the rule of course, but they are definitely separate for the most part.

It's easy to heap them together and say that they all are radical Islamic terrorists and want a Greater Islamic Albania and so forth etc, but it is incorrect. There is a clear distinction with different ideals.

[Risto the Great]

I think that where Islamic Radicalism does exist, it is highly interconnected with Albanian nationalism and they feed off each other. The two are a contradiction, but I think they use each other in a shallow way to recruit for their own causes.

Absolutely. It is the binding agent.