When the NATO intervention in Kosovo began in 1998, it was fairly common, all over the world, to hear the Albanians in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) denounced as terrorists, jihadists and otherwise as Islamists. Given that Kosovo Albanians are 90 percent Muslim, this was probably a predictable development.
The charge that the KLA was jihadist or Islamist represents one of several aspects of the Kosovo campaign that have made it again relevant, following the international decision to act against the Libyan dictatorship of Mu'ammar al Gaddafi. As in Kosovo, NATO intends to defeat Gaddafi by judicious use of high-altitude air power, rather than by putting American, Western European and other allied "boots on the ground." But more significantly, as in Kosovo, the Libyan liberation forces are accused of alignment with al Qaeda, and their devotion to Western ideals of freedom and pluralism is questioned.
The Kosovar Albanians have survived the slurs of their enemies. But in a development worthy of irony, after the Kosovo Republic declared effective independence on Feb. 17, 2008 (in reality, its second such declaration, with the first proclaimed in 1990), only 19 Muslim majority countries have recognized it as a sovereign state: Albania, Afghanistan, Turkey (whose language is spoken by a small community in Kosovo, and which seeks to reestablish the historic Ottoman influence in the Muslim Balkans), Senegal, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Malaysia, the Maldives, Gambia, Saudi Arabia, the Comoros, Bahrain, Jordan, Mauritania, Djibouti, Somalia, Qatar and Oman. The remainder of 77 states accepting Kosovo independence comprises the U.S., Canada, most of the leading nations in Western Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, among others.
With support from major Islamic powers like Turkey, the UAE, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Qatar, Kosovo might enjoy sufficient status in the Muslim world. But the roster of Muslim-majority states that have refused recognition to the young republic is also lengthy, totaling 26 and including Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Hercegovina (which has a Muslim plurality of 48 percent), Egypt, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria (51 percent Muslim), Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Yemen. Further, Israel has declined to recognize Kosovo. Israelis fear that Kosovar independence will be an incentive for a similar unilateral posture by the Palestinians. It would seem that Israeli anxieties on this matter are misplaced, in that the Palestinian Authority has also refused Kosovo recognition.
The lack of enthusiasm for Kosovo shown by many Arab and Muslim countries should be taken as evidence that allegations of radical Islamist tendencies in the Kosovo independence movement were and are false. Nevertheless, Kosovo remains a Muslim-majority state, and since the end of the main conflict in 1999, the country has been targeted by extremist Muslim preachers and flooded with fundamentalist literature.
Recent months have also, it seems, brought the spirit of protest visible in the "Arab Spring" -- or better, the Muslim Spring, since Iran is a key factor in determining the political future of the lands of Islam -- to the Muslim Balkans. After the Egyptian revolution, the discourse on change in these countries has followed a dual path: proposals for democratization and pluralism are accompanied by a stimulus to "reform" through Muslim fundamentalism.
In Kosovo, the chief Islamic cleric since 2003, Naim Ternava, has drawn considerable criticism for his encouragement of a new offensive among local Muslims in favor of Saudi-financed Wahhabism and similar incendiary doctrines. Wahhabis and other radicals, including Pakistanis, have entered these territories, bent on drawing the Albanian Muslims toward Islamist militancy. Dissatisfaction with Naim Ternava's indulgence toward fanaticism and prejudice is a recurrent theme among Kosovar Mislims. Numerous believers look back with nostalgia, tinged with disillusion, at the better days before 2003, when their clerical apparatus was headed by a cultivated and deeply patriotic Albanian Sufi, Dr. Rexheb Boja. (Full disclosure: I know Dr. Boja well and consider him a friend and mentor as well as a perceptive representative of a forward-looking Islam.)
Discontent among Kosovar Albanian Muslims was aggravated at the beginning of the 2011 academic year. Ternava purged the Faculty of Islamic Studies in Prishtina, the Kosovo capital. He revoked the academic autonomy of the faculty, dismissing seven well-qualified and experienced professors -- "the magnificent seven" -- and replacing them with radicals. As described in a protest statement issued by the seven on May 25, Islamic studies in Kosovo will now be directed by "'lecturers' without the appropriate research credentials or with fake titles and degrees, based on unverified diplomas, which are issued by questionable educational institutions without accreditation anywhere in the world, and sold for cash in the streets of Cairo. ... dubious professors, influenced by foreign ideologies, with rigid and extremist orientations, usually backed by generous donors. ... At least three of the new professors, in addition to their teaching salary paid by the Islamic Community of Kosovo, are also paid by foreign groups to promote their beliefs."
The new cadre of "plagiarists," according to the declaration of the seven fired professors, receives double salaries of 1,000 Euros each ($1,300 per month -- a fabulous sum in Kosovo). The effect of Ternava's usurpation, in the words of the seven, will be to drive Kosovar Muslim religious students abroad, where the cost of reputable theological training will be higher, and "they will be at even greater risk of influence by rigid and radical interpretations of Islam."
The seven warned that since the aforementioned Rexheb Boja had been replaced by Naim Ternava, "personal interest rules the Kosovo Islamic Community leadership while human and religious rights are violated." They called on the Kosovo ministries of education and justice to intervene against the treatment inflicted on the seven, declaring, "the Islamic Community of Kosovo is not the private property of some individual with license to use it at others' expense, according to his personal caprices and resentments. There is a need for responsibility and accountability."
Rather than a new outpost of radical Islam, Kosovo may have become the first place in Europe where the spirit of the "Muslim Spring" inspires an outcry against corruption and the accommodation of radicalism. Parallels with Libya should not be the only reason to pay new attention to the place where the U.S.-NATO doctrine of protection against violation of human rights and the imposition of radical ideologies was first, and successfully, tested.
Islam in Kosovo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kosovo's Moderate Muslims - WSJ.com
BBC News | Middle East | Analysis: Muslim dilemma over Kosovo
In fact in the UK , christian Bishops have reserved places in the House of Lords, which is ridiculous.
It is ridiculous BUT, the UK is a mature country with a strong tradition of the independence of government politics from the Church.
Apart from that the socio-economic development is leading the West towards the path of becoming as secular as Albania used to be 20 years ago.
Christianity has evolved under the pressure of socio-economic progress.
Islam has not, as it has had very little socio-economic progress in the last millenium.
Ideologically Islam and Christianity share the same heritage and the same tree of core beliefs , prophets, stories etc.
However, because of the socio-economic progress, christianity has mellowed to such an extent that if we regarded religions as drugs ( the way Marx did) , you would have to say that Christianity is cannabis whereas Islam is crack cocain.
Long story short, I believe that Albanians may undergo a second wave of islamization because of the western hypocritical pressure to embrace the "freedom of religious belief".
This may be facilitated by the catastrophic economic climate in the region with Kosovo being the poorest of all.
The only thing that the poor can cling on to are tales about a benevolent old man in the sky who will help them out in the other world.
Now this may change , as with the so called "democratization" of the Albanian lands, the West started to put pressure on Albanians to become more religious and to promote so called "religious freedoms".
I remember when the UK defence secretary arrived in Prishtina in 1999 , he staged a public meeting with several main Imams of Prishtina and let that be shown on TV.
I am not quite sure what was he thinking, but looking at the faces of the Imams I was pretty sure I knew what they were thinking.
They were thinking something along the lines of " What's going on here ? No one ever has cared about our opinions at all. Politicians and the people have mocked us for decades, so how come this dude is talking to us like we matter ?"
That was downright farcical , as in Kosovo Imams and Priests had until 1990 the status of Voodoo medicine-men and were tolerated as backward relics of the ancient past.
The Western ignorance and their naivety about the "freedom of religion" suddenly started to promote these voodoo medicine-men to something more than a bunch of witches.
That may seem funny and one may say , that's OK we ask our priests in the West as well about politics.
I have finished my degree level education at the University of Prishtina in 1995 and through out my education, from primary school to the University I have met thousands of fellow students ( great majority of which were nominal muslims) but I have met only one fellow student who went to Mosque once a week.
In fact I cannot think of anyone I knew apart from him that ever went to a mosque or prayed.
That is why it is safe to say that over 95% Kosovan muslims are only nominal muslims and they don't even know whether they are Shia or Sunni.
My mother ( also degree educated) would tell you she was a muslim ( by heritage), but she would have no idea whether she was a shia or a sunny.It goes without saying that she never in her life went to a mosque.
This progressive attitude towards religious backwardness was established thanks to the Communist Party of Yugoslavia but mostly thanks to the Labor Party of Albania , who had great influence on Kosovans by the virtue of the feeling of kinship that Kosovars felt towards Albania.
I cannot stress enough that Albanians of Kosovo and Albania are still the most secular people in Europe.
Even acts of worship contribute to the achieving of this reform. Within the framework of human society, the Islamic nation is a compact union having recourse to itself, possessing an inner sense of responsibility for its own members, and resisting decay, both individually and collectively.
This social solidarity called takaful, is apparent in all aspects of Muhammad's Message which has helped to develope a strong sense of unity
The individual's responsibility for the community in Islamic societies and conversely the community's responsibility for the individual are of primary magnitude, constituting a trust of life and the highest of its responsibilities. It is for that reason that Islam introduced community worship.
As the Prophet has said, "This religion is sure; penetrate deeply into it with patience and moderation, for he who rides his horse too hard covers no distance at all."
Islam also enjoins the group not to neglect the individual, obligating it to safeguard his various interests, to respect his rights and freedom, and to harmonize different interests. In Islam, praying in groups is preferred many times over to praying individually.
The whole sorry affair does show well the absurd falsity of the dictum: "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Sometimes, the enemy of your enemy is just practicing for the big game.
The early KLA is now understood pretty well in the academic literature. And you're correct, Islamism was not a factor. They started out as part of Envers Hoxha's Maoist Albanian Labor Party. Remember Demaci's famous clenched-fist salutes?
I seem to remember that you hooked up with the KLA in the late 1990s, after they'd already begun to transition. With the end of Stalinism in Albania in 1992, they were mostly based in Germany, where they were a criminal syndicate, trafficking drugs and extorting expat Kosovars. There might have been some pasdaran training then, but it's only later that the cause was Islamized. Same cast of characters from the Caucasus, Central Asia, Af-Pak: Chechens, ISI, Ikhwan, Saudis, Arab-Afghans, veterans from Chechnya and Kashmir. Same strategy as Chechnya: Islamize an already existing conflict to attract Gulf money and foreign fighters.
There are some great autobiographies by the mujahidin who had boots on the ground -- and on the necks of the twenty or so other ethnic groups against whom they and the KLA were fighting. [I understand that a volume of translations will be appearing soon.]
Nasty business, all around, and back to haunt, it seems. Not something of which our military folk can be entirely proud. Official military historians still do not understand a lot key events, too, especially Clinton's motivations.
I am really interested to learn where you are getting this information from.
First thing you need to consider is that if someone was raised as a Hoxha-ist, they will have been raised as fanatical atheists. A phanatical christian is more likely to become an islamist than a phanatical atheist.A phanatical christian shares All the prophets bar one with a phanatical muslim. An atheist shares Nothing with a muslim.
Further, a Hoxha-ist (like myself) would never ever engage in a criminal syndicate as that would go against everything they ever believed in. Further still, if you have any proof at all, pleas feel free to make it public.There are thousands of KLA opponents within Kosovar Albanians and others who will be glad to come to your aid.
Another question worth asking: Why did one recently arrived set of refugees think that they alone of the many ethnic groups in Kosovo were the rightful heirs to the whole -- especially when all the others had determined that they could live together? Why Rambouillet? Why? All of the other parties to the dispute had signed an accord already on March 15 -- the autonomy being requested would be given.
US author , Anna Di Lellio recently wrote a book about the battle of Kosovo in 1389, and taking a balanced approach she posits that the main hero of the battle, Millosh Obillich was more likely to have been an Albanian than a Serbian.
This position is based on the fact that Albanian ancient heroic songs were the only ones to preserve his real name, while the serbs songs had described him until recently as Kobilich instead of Obilich.
If Albanians came to Kosovo after 1389, why would they care to preserve an oral tradition about a guy who could only have gotten them in trouble with the Ottomans ?
There is no doubt that Serbs descended to the Balkans in VII century, migrating from Caucasus through Ukraine. By the way Ptolemy depicted with maps in II century AD, the Serbia in Caucasus, as well as the city of Albanopolis in the Balkans.This he did in his work "The Geography", available in Amazon.