TIRANA, May 27 – Authorities have increased their focus on Albanians who have joined the ranks of violent extremist groups in the Middle East because of the danger they represent, Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri said this week at a conference in Tirana.
He added he does not want to cause alarm, but rather to increase awareness that a tiny subsection of society could threaten the country’s values.
“This is not an Albanian phenomenon, it is regional, and it is global,” Tahiri said, however, he added, “Albania is not immune to violent extremism.”
The interior minister added that authorities are aware that some Albanians are stuck in the conflict zone and want to abandon the extremists but cannot do so. He referred to recent media reports that showed an Albanian man had been killed by ISIS after he expressed disillusion with the cause and tried to return to Albania.
Based on the latest official data, “the number of those leaving is now at zero,” Tahiri said.
However, Ermir Gjinishi, a theologian and a former top official in the Albanian Muslim Community, told the same conference the departures had not entirely stopped.
Gjinishi, who has actively worked to convince youths and families at risks not to travel to the conflict, said he knows that to this day there are still young men leaving Tirana for the conflict in Syria.
Tahiri made the comments at an annual security conference organized by the Albanian Institute for International Studies, which recently conducted comprehensive research on Albanian citizens who have joined foreign conflicts.
Ebi Spahiu, who has been researching the topic on behalf of the AIIS, said about 100 Albanian citizens traveled to Syria with most leaving in 2013. Less than 40 have returned and most express regret of leaving Albania in the first place, she added, based on interviews with some returnees and family members of those who have traveled to the conflict zone.
The phenomena is made more disturbing by the fact that those who left also took their spouses and children with them, Spahiu said.
She added her research indicated that many of the Albanians who had joined the ranks of the extremists in Syria were in the late 20s or older, did have some education and many had returned to Albania after many years of working in neighboring countries like Greece and Italy.
After changes were made last year, Albanian law now prohibits the country’s citizens from joining foreign conflicts and several accused recruiters are now on trial in Tirana.
Other speakers at the conference said the root causes of the problem must also be addressed.
U.S. Ambassador Donald Lu said that more was needed to be done to connect with poor and disaffected youths who can fall prey to recruitment by violent extremists. He said authorities need to do more to improve the lives of the poorest Albanians by fighting corruption and improving economic governance.
Aldo Bumçi, the deputy head of the foreign affairs commission in the Albanian parliament, said the best way to counter the misuse of religion is to strengthen Albania’s Muslim Community, the official ruling body for the religion in Albania. He urged the government to offer more funds and help provide better-trained professionals for the community.
AIIS Executive Director Albert Rakipi said this latest trend toward extremism is unlike anything Albania has seen before, and this country, as a NATO member, needs to deal with it head on.
“Religion has never served as an organizing ideology for the Albanian state and society, and there are major implications for national security if this is not addressed,” Rakipi said.
