How could it happen that one the young man becomes so radicalized that he can carry out a terrorist attack to the Israeli embassy in Belgrade and severely wounded the gendarme? The team searched for answers to that question in Novi Pazar Deutsche Welle (DW).
The July sun scorches the streets of Novi Pazar. Between the two jewelry stores with large glass windows is an almost imperceptible wooden door. A large number of men had just entered there. Above the door it says: "Hasan Çelebi Arab Mosque". It's Jumma time. The sound of the call to prayer from the minaret spreads through the old market of Novi Pazar.
In recent days, Novi Pazar was the main news in Serbia and the region. Because of a local who was killed after an attack on a member of the gendarmerie in front of the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, the so-called red level of security threats from terrorism.
"That's not a true believer"
Regardless, life in Novi Pazar goes on peacefully as usual. The streets are full, cafes and squares too. After leaving the mosque, the faithful put on their shoes and hurriedly leave. We ask them how they feel after a Wahhabi member from Novi Pazar tried to carry out a terrorist attack in Belgrade on June 29 in the name of Islam.
"That's not a true believer," replies a man who has just left the mosque. "Whoever wants to hurt a person is not a believer, he is not a good Muslim, nor a believer."
In the pedestrian zone in the city center, the locals generally do not want to talk to journalists. Among those who did stop, there is not a single woman. When asked if they feel bad because of the shadow cast on their city and their religion, they answer as follows:
"It's not good, it doesn't smell good." This is the biggest mistake," says Hajriz Osmanlić. "If someone persuaded him, how it happened, only God knows." If he was normal, he wouldn't do that. I was shaken, I am very guilty. Now people will have a different opinion about us. A large number of people will suffer because of one person. That is the biggest problem".
"There is no problem for us, that happened there, those are incidents," says Mithad Kruševljanin. "I don't think it was something organized, it was done by an individual, a crime against an innocent policeman who was doing his job."
"Convert-terrorism"
Rešad Plojović, the deputy president of the Meshihat of the Islamic Community in Serbia and the mufti of Belgrade, told DW that the public in Serbia, especially Muslims, were surprised by the act of violence, which, as he emphasizes, was called by its right name - terrorism. In addition to publicly condemning the attack on a member of the gendarmerie, they also demanded, he says, to find out who the perpetrators were, who planned the terrorist act and for whose interests it was carried out.
"The fact that it is related to Islam and Muslims in this country means that it is causing the most damage to Muslims in this country." And that means that this terrorist act is certainly not something that was produced, planned or done in the interests of Muslims in Serbia. The state of Serbia and all its citizens suffer the greatest damage from this act. That's why the principals, planners and orderers of that act should be sought both outside the Islamic community and, I can freely say, outside the borders of the Republic of Serbia," Rešad Plojović believes.
Mufti calls this type of violence "convert terrorism", because the perpetrator of that act converted from Christianity to Islam. "We don't know where, how and from whom he learned about Islam, but acts of violence and terrorism in the name of Islam are also committed today by those Muslims who have converted from unbelief to religion." They were Muslims in name, but far from their religion. And then they simply made a radical turn in their life and, as they would say, they were 'connected to high voltage'. And someone deliberately connected them to high voltage. "They have become a suitable target for the manipulation of the world's famous, large, influential power centers that want to gain influence in this way," assesses Plojović.
Potential for extremism
For the analyst from Novi Pazar, Theo Taraniš, the event in Belgrade is a non-standard case of radicalization of a young man who came from outside, but managed to indoctrinate himself in Novi Pazar - so much so that he was ready for this kind of action. And that, he says, is being indoctrinated by individuals who act outside the control of Islamic communities.
Taraniš sees a problem in the Islamic community as well: "There are two Islamic communities (in Serbia) and for many years they deal primarily with political issues, and at the same time politics deals with both Islamic communities." That's why they fail to deal with the believers in such a way that we now have some individuals outside the Islamic communities who exercise their influence," Taranish says.
This event in front of the Israeli embassy, as he says, was not unexpected, because attention is drawn to Novi Pazar as a place where there is potential for extremism. "In the local community itself, there has been some kind of potential for extremism for many years. Sometimes it's open and visible, and sometimes it's smoldering and invisible," Taranish told DW and added: "Maybe it's enough to have five or ten people who follow some individual whom they consider to be an authority, and that group can create a problem." .
They are led by a "slightly more extreme"
Taraniš points out that in the last ten years there have been many Orthodox converts to Islam in Novi Pazar. It is celebrated on social networks, as he says, and such individuals are well received. He also adds that videos from around Novi Pazar are appearing on social networks where people gather in the clearings at dawn, at the time of sunrise and morning prayers, led by one who is, as Taranish says, "a little more extreme".
"Those people are outside the Islamic community and they still remain there," says a DW interlocutor who believes that such concealment of more extreme individuals is very dangerous. Taranish explains that they redirected their work through the non-governmental sector and humanitarian aid. "Through humanitarian work, they have actually now become mainstream in the community, and you can't say to them now, 'You're extreme,' when you see him handing out bags of humanitarian aid to people who are poor every day."
Source: Deutsche Welle
