A BALKAN BLOWBACK: SAUDI RADICALIZATION IN BOSNIA AND BEYOND

Aya Burweila (RIEAS Senior Analyst) Copyright: www.rieas.gr On October 1, 2006, on occasion of Eid Al-Adha, the leader of the Bosnia’s Islamic community, Mustafa Ceric had the following recommendations for the European Union: “Europe has no choice but to begin the process of institutionalizing Islam…to integrate into European society as dedicated Muslims and good citizens of the European Union, Europe must open itself to Muslims and look beyond the fear-provoking image’ to see the ‘spiritual and cultural face of Islam.’ In Bosnia itself however, the increasing presence of pockets of Islamic radicalism has caused Bosnians themselves to be concerned with the intimidating yet informal ‘institutionalization’ of Wahabi Islam. According to Christopher Deliso, author of the seminal The Coming Balkan Caliphate: The Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West, ‘By the mid 2005, Bosnia’s strategic value to major international terrorist groups was no longer merely as a logistical base and terrorist transfer zone. Bosnia had instead become both a staging post for terrorist attacks in Europe and a target for attacks itself.’ Indeed, the train bombings in Madrid deeply implicated Bosnia, with the Spanish investigators mentioning Bosnia no less than 300 times in their indictment. more see...www.rieas.gr