"Haradinaj's connections should not be underestimated"

"Haradinaj's connections should not be underestimated"

Alim Hamza, who is under the surveillance of German authorities for his Islam extremist standpoints, was among delegates, while the expert for security issues Irfan Peci considers that the danger of Haradinaj's contacts with Salafi movement with the goal of establishing "Greater Albania" should not be underestimated.

Hamza had come to Pristina as a member of the delegation of Alliance for Innovation and Justice, a small party registered in Germany, for which German media report that it is close to Turkish President Reyep Tajip Erdogan.

This Salafi member from Bonn hadn't attracted attention of the public, although he is being monitored by German services for his extremist standpoints, until he started engaging himself on social networks, showing support to Haradinaj.

Security expert Irfan Peci who got in touch with Tanjug regarding this issue, claims that Haradinaj must have been aware of Hamza's Salafi "background", as he is already targeted by the German authorities.

When asked whether so-called KLA was also under the influence of Salafi movement, Peci responded that KLA had numerous fractions, that were nationalistic in nature.

"Now, we see that there are lots of Albanian Salafists that support KLA, perceiving war against Serbia as jihad", Peci underlines.

Irfan Peci is originally from Yugoslavia, his family fled the Yugoslavian Civil War in 1991 and escaped to Germany. As he was growing up in Germany, he was recruited by Al-Qaeda in 2007, and later became a senior member of the German section of Al-Qaeda’s propaganda organization Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF).

He was arrested by the German authorities and sentenced to imprisonment. In prison, he became deradicalized and started working with the German Intelligence Service as an undercover agent against the Al-Qaeda network in Germany.

He is the author of his autobiography entitled “The Jihadist”, while Bavarian public service broadcaster made a documentary about him.

The Salafist doctrine is based on looking back to the early years of the religion to understand how the contemporary world should be ordered, with the aim of restoring the early Islamic movement.