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Quadriga - Re-Importing Terror: Big Threat for Europe?

September 4, 2014

Why do young people from Europe head off to fight in a religious war? How do they become radicalised? These questions have been prompted by reports that more than four hundred young Moslems from Germany have traveled to Syria and Iraq in recent months to fight in the ranks of terrorist groups. The intelligence services are warning that any who return to Europe could pose a threat to the public.

https://p.dw.com/p/1D7Jz

Germany has announced it will send weapons and other military equipment to the Kurds in northern Iraq. Is there a danger that Jihadist fighters will try to take revenge for that decision?

Britain has already raised its threat assessment. Prime Minister David Cameron has described the Islamic State terror group as "a greater and deeper threat to our security than we’ve known before.” At least five hundred men with British citizenship are alleged to be fighting in Iraq and Syria. He also announced plans to tighten Britain's terror laws.

Former members of Germany's armed forces are also reported to be among those who have made the journey to Iraq and Syria and joined the terrorists. They are especially important for groups such as the Islamic State, because many other Jihadists who have come from Germany had no previous military training. Many of them have moved back and forth across the porous, 900-kilometer long border between Turkey and Syria, which national authorities have difficulty fully controlling.

Irak Jesiden Flüchtlinge
Image: DW/R. Erlich
Großbritannien Mord Soldat in London David Cameron
Image: Reuters
Neues Video deutscher Islamisten aufgetaucht
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

How serious is the threat from these re-imported terrorists? Is it appropriate to tighten up anti-terror laws. What should Europe do in the face of this perceived danger?

Let us know what you think. Send an email to [email protected]

Re-Importing Terror: Big Threat for Europe?

Our guests:

17.10.2013 DW Quadriga Studiogast Malte Lehming

Malte Lehming– is theeditor of the opinion page of "Der Tagesspiegel", he was the paper's Washington Bureau Chief from January 2001 to July 2005. Lehming joined "Der Tagesspiegel” in 1991 as a foreign editor, covering security issues, transatlantic relations and the Middle East. From 1989 to 1991, he served as personal assistant and speechwriter for the former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. Lehming completed an MA in philosophy, German Literature and European History.

11.07.2013 DW Quadriga Hamed Abdel-Samad
Image: DW

Hamed Abdel-Samad– is the son of a Sunni Imam. At the age of 23, the Egyptian national moved to Germany. He studied political science in Augsburg and English and French at Cairo University. After his studies, he taught at the Institute for Jewish History and Culture at the University of Munich. He has worked as a writer and journalist and made a name for himself as a critic of Islam. A death fatwa was issued against him. Once a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, in his new book Abdel-Samad now says the organization is fascist in character.

23.05.2013 DW Quadriga Ferhad Ahma
Image: DW

Asiem El Difraoui – studied politics and economics in Cairo, London and then Paris, where he received his Ph.D. He worked as editor in chief for IP Productions, a news agency focusing on the Middle East and the Arab world. He has written numerous prize-winning documentary films and news reports. He formed part of the Middle East and Africa research group at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, focusing on jihadist propaganda on the internet. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Media and Communication Policy in Berlin. His latest book deals with Egyptian society after the revolution.