Radical Islam in Montenegro
Radical Islam in Montenegro
Radical Islam in Montenegro
structure of a cable as well as how to discuss them with others. See also the FAQs Reference ID 09PODGORICA171 Created 2009-07-10 11:57 Released 2011-08-30 01:44 Classification UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Origin Embassy Podgorica
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1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Over the last decade, fundamentalist Islam, known here as Wahhabism, has established a small foothold among Montenegro's 110,000 Muslims. There are probably a few hundred adherents in country, concentrated in majority-Muslim towns of Plav and Rozaje, close to Kosovo and Albania. The so-called Wahhabis, who have links with Bosnia and Serbia (and similar groups in some Western European cities), initially challenged mainstream Muslim authorities in several towns and villages. After a perceived crackdown on extremists in Serbia's Sandzak in 2007, however, they appear to have adopted a lower profile. While continued economic deprivation in northern Montenegro, where most Muslims live, could radicalize some young Muslims in the longer term, Montenegro's centuries-old tradition of moderate Islam and healthy inter-ethnic relations provide a bulwark against the spread of Wahhabism. In fact, Embassy personnel have repeatedly experienced abundant outpourings of warmth toward the United States among the local Muslim (Slav and Albanian) population. END SUMMARY.
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2. (U) Montenegro's 110,000 Muslims (almost 18 percent of the total population, according to the 2003 census) are divided into three groups: Bosniaks (8 percent of Montenegro's population), "Muslims" (5 percent), and Albanians (5 percent; note that some Albanian-Montenegrins are Catholics). Bosniaks and "Muslims" are Slavs whose ancestors converted to Islam under Ottoman Turkish rule. Yugoslavia used the term "Muslim" after 1971 to describe the ethnicity of its Slavic Muslim population. Following Bosnia's lead in the 1990s, some Montenegrin Muslims have advocated that Slavic Muslims call themselves "Bosniaks." Both "Bosniak" and "Muslim" ethnicities are recognized in Montenegro's Constitution.
3. (U) Almost three-quarters of Montenegro's Bosniaks/Muslims live in the country's northern municipalities, where they constitute majorities in Rozaje and Plav (the latter also has a large Albanian Muslim population) and significant minorities in