8
This article was downloaded by: [Nanyang Technological University] On: 02 June 2014, At: 06:15 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Terrorism and Political Violence Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ftpv20 Terrorism and organized crime: The Romanian perspective Mircea Gheordunescu a a Deputy Director of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) , Bucharest Published online: 21 Dec 2007. To cite this article: Mircea Gheordunescu (1999) Terrorism and organized crime: The Romanian perspective, Terrorism and Political Violence, 11:4, 24-29, DOI: 10.1080/09546559908427529 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09546559908427529 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities

Terrorism and organized crime: The Romanian perspective

  • Upload
    mircea

  • View
    215

  • Download
    2

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Terrorism and organized crime: The Romanian perspective

This article was downloaded by: [Nanyang Technological University]On: 02 June 2014, At: 06:15Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number:1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street,London W1T 3JH, UK

Terrorism and PoliticalViolencePublication details, including instructions forauthors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ftpv20

Terrorism and organizedcrime: The RomanianperspectiveMircea Gheordunescu aa Deputy Director of the Romanian IntelligenceService (SRI) , BucharestPublished online: 21 Dec 2007.

To cite this article: Mircea Gheordunescu (1999) Terrorism and organized crime:The Romanian perspective, Terrorism and Political Violence, 11:4, 24-29, DOI:10.1080/09546559908427529

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09546559908427529

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of allthe information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on ourplatform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensorsmake no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy,completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Anyopinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions andviews of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor& Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon andshould be independently verified with primary sources of information.Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities

Page 2: Terrorism and organized crime: The Romanian perspective

whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly inconnection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private studypurposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution,reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of accessand use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Nan

yang

Tec

hnol

ogic

al U

nive

rsity

] at

06:

15 0

2 Ju

ne 2

014

Page 3: Terrorism and organized crime: The Romanian perspective

Terrorism and Organized Crime:The Romanian Perspective

MIRCEA GHEORDUNESCU

Terrorism in Romania

Although Romania has not in fact been faced with the problems posedby indigenous or 'domestic' political violence, there nevertheless existsa large number of illegal structures belonging to foreign terroristorganizations acting within Romanian national boundaries. Thesestructures operate under various covers, with the particular purpose ofoffering their own terrorist organizations support, including logistic andfinancial support as well as future targeting opportunities.

Given this, one of the major issues facing law enforcement andgovernmental efforts in Romania has been the presence in Romania(amongst the 8,000 Kurd nationals currently living in the country) ofmembers and supporters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Thiselement of the Romanian Kurdish community represents one of themost serious potential threats to Romanian national security as a whole,taking into consideration the fact that from an organizational andlogistics point of view, the PKK has traditionally used the territories ofother countries, especially those of European countries, to prepare andorganize terrorist acts against various Turkish targets.

The Romanian-based structures of the PKK acts primarily in thefollowing ways:

A. The reinforcement and overall strengthening of the organization'scommand and functional ordinate and sub-ordinate structures.We believe that the PKK intends to continue to strengthen itscommanding cell in Romania with a view towards challenging what itperceives as an 'anti-Kurd' attitude held by the Romanian authorities.

5

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Nan

yang

Tec

hnol

ogic

al U

nive

rsity

] at

06:

15 0

2 Ju

ne 2

014

Page 4: Terrorism and organized crime: The Romanian perspective

TERRORISM - THE ROMANIAN PERSPECTIVE 25

This anti-establishment 'challenge' will, we believe, be expressed bymeans of violent action, which we also believe will have the secondarypurpose of demonstrating the reactive capabilities of the organization.

B. The increased involvement in organized crime with a view toobtaining funds for self-financing.These activities currently include the illegal export of money gatheredthrough commercial activities (laundered money), various 'tax'extortion schemes, recently confirmed involvement in the drug trade,forged travel documentation, weapons procurement, and trafficking inammunition and explosives. Further to these, increasingly we have seenthat the PKK has established a fully functional illegal immigrationnetwork aimed at bringing individuals towards and into several westernEuropean countries through Romania.

C. Maintaining increased pro-PKK propaganda activity throughoutRomania.One of the main trends of this propaganda campaign has been aimed at'sensitizing' not only Romanian but international opinion towards theKurdish problem. This is fuelled by the attempt to reinforce the public'simage of the PKK as a politically motivated (and hence primarily apolitically-based) organization.

Further to those primary roles, the PKK's presence in Romania has alsobrought about the appearance and consolidation on the Romaniannational territory of a number of cells belonging to extremist Turkishorganizations. These include the Revolutionary People's LiberationParty/Front (DHKP-C) which we believe has aimed towardsestablishing joint targeting and attacks against Turkey and Turkishinterests abroad. A further ethnic-nationalist group, although lessrepresented on the Romanian national territory, is Babbar Khalsa; theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) also exist in Romania, andtheir presence and activities have also been recorded recently.

Another serious terrorist threat in Romania has been generated bythe presence of both members and supporters of a number of Palestinianorganizations opposed to the peace process in the Middle East. Thesegroups include Al-Fatah - Revolutionary Council, the Popular Front forthe Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for theLiberation of Palestine (DFLP). The dangers posed by theseorganizations are represented firstly by the establishment and

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Nan

yang

Tec

hnol

ogic

al U

nive

rsity

] at

06:

15 0

2 Ju

ne 2

014

Page 5: Terrorism and organized crime: The Romanian perspective

26 THE FUTURE OF TERRORISM

reinforcement of a set of covert structures, most of them of acommercial nature, and secondly by the presence of covert 'executives'capable of conducting terrorist activities upon order at any time.

However, a slightly more obvious tendency of these organizationsand their activities is worth some elaboration. The main trend of suchactivity carried out by Islamic fundamentalist organizations acting inRomania has to date been focused on the recruitment and indoctrinationof new followers amongst the Turkish and Tartar ethnic communities,as well as a smaller number of other foreign or indigenous citizens. Inthis regard, the greatest threats posed by terrorist organizations (andelements of them) acting on Romanian soil are actually the MuslimBrotherhood, Hamas and Hizbollah. The members and supporters ofthese organizations act under various covers, which on the surfaceappear to be perfectly legitimate Islamic organizations, including theMuslim Students' Association. This organization has given us cause formuch concern, and worryingly has sought to increase its membershipthrough several branches in the main university cities in Romania,including Bucharest.

Links Between Terrorism and Organized Crime

The links between terrorism and organized crime in the Romaniancontext are also worth describing. It has long been said that changes inthe international political order, characterized not only by a remarkablepersistence of causes and conditions favouring terrorism but also theapparent simultaneous decrease of traditional state sponsorship ofterrorism, has in fact created some prerequisites for terrorist groups, andelements of terrorist groups world-wide. This forced 'reorientation' andadaptation in facing changing external events has in many cases led toa greater involvement of terrorist groups in organized criminal activitiesas their main source of self-financing. The involvement of terrorism inorganized crime as far as the Romanian situation illustrates appears tofollow two main paths. First, there is a sense of direct 'straightforward'involvement of terrorist networks in organized criminal behaviour: thisincludes involvement in the drug trade, weapons, ammunition,explosives and real instances of radioactive materials trafficking, aswell as a number of definite economic underground activities with aview to recycling illegal funds (i.e. money laundering). Second,however, we have also seen a number of 'joint' activities conducted byterrorist organizations and organized crime structures, but notably

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Nan

yang

Tec

hnol

ogic

al U

nive

rsity

] at

06:

15 0

2 Ju

ne 2

014

Page 6: Terrorism and organized crime: The Romanian perspective

TERRORISM - THE ROMANIAN PERSPECTIVE 27

related primarily to monetary interests. A number of members orsupporters of organizations such as PKK and Hizbollah have beeninvolved in such activities.

In the context of ongoing threat evaluation and risk assessment ofthe kinds of activities I have described above, the Romanian authoritiesresponsible for fighting terrorism and organized crime, which Irepresent, are absolutely and wholeheartedly determined in expressingtheir full determination to improve not only our own struggle againstsuch threats, but also as far as possible improving internationalcooperation in the field. That this must include the exchange ofinformation is clear.

Factors Favouring Terrorism in the Balkans

Analyses of terrorism in the Balkans region as a whole in recent yearshave emphasized several factors contributing towards the developmentof a number of types of terrorism. These factors include the existenceof various conflicts between or within certain countries. Theseobviously include conflicts based in or arising from the formerYugoslavia, and between Turkey and Greece, for example. Anotherfactor has been the influence of the sense of 'evolution' of internationalterrorism, which as far as we are concerned has certainly becomeincreasingly organized, and moreover supported and guided towardsmore major diffuse objectives in different countries and geographicalareas of the world, not least the Balkans. The hugely revitalizedmanifestation of ethnic-separatist, nationalist and revisionist trends interrorist activity has also been a strong factor. From the practical fieldexperience and intelligence which we in Romania have gained in recentyears, we firmly believe that this trend will remain for a long time aserious problem for the security of the Balkans region as a whole.

As noted above, two major factors influencing the development andsustenance of terrorism in the Balkans are the increased extension ofIslamic fundamentalism in the Balkan countries (with a view to creatinga greater number of support and logistic support points) and theincreasing prevalence of terrorist links with certain segments oforganized crime (among which the existence of common plans,similitude of targets, as well as of methods, ways and means of actionused to reach their goals have in recent times, become increasinglyclearer). The development of both legal and illegal immigration is at themoment only compounding these problems. It is important to elaborate

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Nan

yang

Tec

hnol

ogic

al U

nive

rsity

] at

06:

15 0

2 Ju

ne 2

014

Page 7: Terrorism and organized crime: The Romanian perspective

28 THE FUTURE OF TERRORISM

on the problem of illegal immigration in this region in more detail.There are currently three channels of illegal immigration in use byinternational organized crime networks that we know of. These are:

(a) The Eastern Channel. This has two directions: the 'Ukraine-Moldavia-Romania-Hungary' path towards western countries, and the'Russia-Moldavia-Romania-Hungary' path to the west.(b) The Southern Channel. This also has two directions: the 'Russia-Ukraine-Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary' path, again to western countries;and finally,(c) The Yugoslavian Channel: which is the 'Romania-Yugoslavia-Croatia-Slovenia-Italy' pathway.

At present, illegal immigration is growing and proving extremelydifficult, but not impossible, to control. But to compound this problemeven further, among those who intend to reach western states areextremist elements which seek to manipulate target immigrant groupsfurthering their terrorist-related goals.

Suggestions and Conclusions

Because the present trends, effects, and future predictions of terrorismoften lead to alarming conclusions, the fight against this phenomenonhas become a priority not least from a European perspective but also forthe international community. Regardless of the validity of currentforecasts, terrorism will remain a serious threat in all its formsthroughout the world for the foreseeable future. As far as the discussionpresented here is concerned, the increasing evolution of Islamic-basedterrorism, of ethnic-seperatist terrorism, as well as the linkages betweenterrorism and organized crime, illegal immigration in the Balkans, anda whole host of other factors, has forced countries concerned with theseproblems to strengthen their efforts in order to adequately deal with theissues and immediate problems posed by this social and politicalphenomenon. Such efforts have already materialized through bilateralor multilateral agreements between the relevant countries, wheremeasures to discourage the proliferation of terrorism and terrorist-related activities of this nature have been taken. And naturally, anothermajor trend is always the constant concern for close relations betweenthe secret services in different countries with the purpose of exchangingintelligence information.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Nan

yang

Tec

hnol

ogic

al U

nive

rsity

] at

06:

15 0

2 Ju

ne 2

014

Page 8: Terrorism and organized crime: The Romanian perspective

TERRORISM - THE ROMANIAN PERSPECTIVE 29

The role of Romania as far as dealing with the issues and problemsdescribed here can be summarized as follows:

• There is to be what can broadly be termed an 'information exchange'on a scheduled regular basis between anti-terrorism experts in theBalkan countries;

• Extended co-operation, by including common active measures on realcases, especially related to extremist-terrorist groups or organizationswhich intend to carry out terrorist actions on the Balkan countries'territory;

• Establishing common databases for the region;• Establishing agreements on preventing and countering the

development of even newer terrorist organizations, the signs of whichcurrently show that several are in their infancy;

• Establishing a common system of antiterrorism laws and regulations,so that the terrorism can be countered on a unitary basis;

• Discovering the actual threats posed by developments withinterrorism itself, which might include these so-called 'newer' types ofterrorism such as nuclear, chemical, biological and bacteriologicalterrorism, as well as cyber-terrorism.

Unfortunately, it is often the case that the reactions of states whenconfronted with terrorism or the threat of terrorism largely depends onthe perceived scale of the threat, or based around the effects of oneparticular event. Sometimes, the use of force seems to be the onlyalternative for many states. It is not the only answer, however, as we arelearning, and such measures may be, and now are, preceded by otherdifferent kinds of measures. Moreover, experience has shown (andsometimes tragically) that the exclusive and indiscriminate use ofarmed force is clearly not an efficient way of fighting terrorism at all.An increasingly thorough understanding and, similarly, an increasinglyefficient degree of co-operation in this field between states canrepresent a more efficient solution for countering this terrorism. Let meconclude by stating my belief that, representing not only a politicalproblem, but also a moral and a social one, terrorism might be moresuccessfully countered through a meaningful global approach and,through the coherent, integrated and honest efforts of civilized states.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Nan

yang

Tec

hnol

ogic

al U

nive

rsity

] at

06:

15 0

2 Ju

ne 2

014