Turkey and Saudi Arabia are spreading Islamic values more heavily into society in the Balkan states, Austrian Federal Minister of Defense Hans Peter Doskozil said in an interview to the German newspaper Die Welt published Tuesday.
The minister added that Ankara continues to spread its influence in Albania, Kosovo and Serbia.
“We can see the slow Islamization in the Balkans. The European Union is losing its influence in the Balkans. Turkey and Saudi Arabia, in contrast, are increasing their influence,” Doskozil said expressing “serious concern” over the situation.
“Because of this development, it would be unacceptable from my point of view if Turkey as part of NATO would soon deploy more troops to the Balkans,” Doskozil noted, adding that such imbalance was not in the Europeans’ interests.
Doskozil urged Germany and other countries to prevent any change of the power balance and threats to democracy in the region.
