News this week of the death in Syria of a promising former soccer player from Germany sent shudders in the European mind.
The deceased jihadist, one Burak Karan, was not unknown. He was no 'loser' as the Boston bombers were aptly named.
This man was a successful and promising soccer player, who had even played in the national league.
What then, prompts a succesful talent like Karan to lose all interest in a lucrative career to join the fighting in Syria? More importantly, what is happening to European youth of Muslim belief? And, equally important, who recruits these young men?
In 2008 Karan was playing in the Alemannia Aachen team. His future was bright. but just a few weeks after such prestigious achievement in the soccer world, he gave it all up.
A Turk by descendancy, Karan died in October near the city of Asas, in Syria. Although his brother denies he was a jihadists, and that he only was part of a contingent that assured safe passage to relief convoys, the question remains that he made the leap from an integrated succesful citizen to a person involved in the Syrian civil war.
The question remains however: why did he go? Although many question the West's hands-off approach to the Syria conflict, which instead could use as much intervention from abroad as the West could spare, the issue here is that no one knows for sure if the motivation for going to Syria was just to assist the people, or to join an increasingly religious and radicalized force which is now fighting more along sectarian lines than in pursuit of democracy and freedom.
Suspicions now swirl around a Wuppertal based Islamist Imam, Emrah Erdogan, for the radical change that occured in Karan's life. The parents of the deceased soccer player point their fingers squarely at him.
A video on Youtube bolsters the parents' contention. In it, Karan holds a rifle, while dressed in jihadi garb, and is framed by a phrase that reads : "stormed like a lion into the area of Kafir [PKK, may Allah destroy them] and took pleasure in fighting them)
In fact, Karan, as far back as 2010 tried to travel to Afghanistan with Emrah, although he never made it over there.
Although Emrah is now in jail for being a member of Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Somalia, Karan apparently achieved what Emrah had set out for his young disciple. In fact, Emrah has been accused of organizing a major attack, and had made contact with an Islamist from Austria. His Austrain counterpart has also been jailed since then, and is in prison in Turkey.
The question then of the future of Europe with many integrated first generation Muslim youths who are recruited and radicalized remains. With the Syrian conflict now in danger of engulfing directly or indirectly the whole Middle East, many more might find their way to the conflict. And then? What happens at their return?
Partial Source : Spiegel International/ 11.19.13
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