The Influence of Foreign Islamic Organizations on Islamic Radicalism in the Countries of the Western Balkans

The ethnic, religious, and strategic influences and interests of the great powers had always intersected in the territory of the Western Balkans. This political and religious turmoil as well as the impacts of geostrategic interests had a major impact on the region so that different cultures, churches, and beliefs, which competed and sometimes also conflicted with each other, had been developing over the course of the last centuries. Irrespectively of the religious and ethnic diversity, the peoples in the Western Balkans customarily endeavored to extend tolerance and understanding to members of other ethnic and religious communities. Unfortunately, ethnic as well as religious tolerance have increasingly come under attack since the breakdown of the Yugoslav state and particularly, since the outbreak of civil war in Bosnia-Hercegovina in 1992, though. This development extended to almost all the countries of the entire Western Balkans. Especially during the civil war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, some organizations financing terrorism invested hundreds of millions of dollars in order to propagate a radical religious ideology and to create incentives for hatred and different conflicts motivated by religion in all the countries of the Western Balkans populated by Muslims. Endeavors by certain Russian circles to fuel Islamist radicalization, radicalism, and extremism in the countries of the Western Balkans have likewise been observed during recent years.