Illegal mosques – a bomb in the province (Večernje Novosti)
“The biggest culprits for the texts which appeared in American, French and other media about the Kosovo as a center of radical Islamism, are in Kosovo. This society has allowed children to fight in Syria and Iraq, where 50 Albanians were killed, while more than 300 young man participated in the ranks of the Islamic State,” said Fatmir Sheholli, political analyst from Pristina. He added that many people in Kosovo were convicted, among which is one of the main persons for recruiting - Zekeria Qazimi.
Young Albanians are mainly recruited through the course of religious lectures in illegal mosques. Sheholli believes that poverty is not the main reason. He thinks that they did it because of the belief. “We have to stress that we have never had such phenomenon in Kosovo. Radical Islamists appeared together with big donations from the Islamic countries, humanitarian aid and NGOs whose aim was primarily money laundering through traditional and religious customs in Kosovo. They are doing it in Kosovo for years, what can be witnessed by the increased number of women wearing hijab. Kosovo, Albania and FYRoM are certainly among the potential places for the attacks of Islamists”, he said.
Kosovo analyst is warning that in many mosques in Glogovac / Gllogovc, Podujevo / Podujevë and Uroševac / Ferizaj are preaching the imams, without the approval of the legal Islamic Community, stressing that those are imams who perform the training of jihadists.