An eight year old boy was happily reunited with his mother, in Kosovo after his Jihadist father had kidnapped him and kept him in Syria for five months. His mother, Pranvera Zena had made a public appeal in June 2014 asking her partner to safely return the boy home to her. His mother had also set up Facebook pages in order to let people know about the disappearance of her son. She had also made appearances in Albania and Kosovo. Hashim Thaci, Kosovo’s Prime Minister has declared that the country’s intelligence agency had located and successfully rescued eight year old Erion Abazi. They were helped by the Turkish intelligence in their mission. He said the operation was complicated and very dangerous, however he did not give any more details about it. The rescue operation had been authorised by Kosovo’s President Atifete Jahjara. While in Syria, the eight year old boy appeared in pictures near the militants’ black flag.
More than 200 Kosovans have joined the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Arben, the boy’s father had told Pranvera he was taking their son on a trip in the mountains in Kosovo. Instead, he took the boy to Albania and then took a flight to Turkey. Their final destination was Syria. One of Pranvera’s relatives told the press that she was able to talk to her son on the phone, but very rarely. After one of their discussion, she found out that the boy’s father was not with the boy, but instead he was in a training camp far away. Pranvera Zena was reunited with her son at the Pristina International Airport. She declared that the reunion felt like a dream and that she was afraid she might wake up and realize her son was not really next to her.
The majority of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo are Muslims. However, there is a minority who are believed to have chosen the jihadist ideology. One of the rescued boy’s cousins declared that Erion was still a little bit confused and that he had not spoken much about the life he had led in Syria. However, he seems to have been treated right, like the other children. Pranvera remembers how she managed to call her son on Skype, on September 15. She then found out he was properly cared for because he was staying with some of the militant families. Erion’s father did not find out about the boy’s return home, in Kosovo. He is currently in Iraq, fighting for the Islamic State.