SEE country leaders stress need for unity in fight against terror

12/09/2006

As people across the globe paid homage to the victims of the 9/11 attacks on the United States five years ago, Balkan leaders called on nations around the world to remain united against terrorism and extremism.

(Various sources -- 11/09/06 - 12/09/06)

Kosovo Albanian schoolchildren commemorate the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in which nearly 3,000 people died. [Laura Hasani]

Commemorative ceremonies in many parts of the world, including in Southeast European (SEE) countries, marked the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington that left nearly 3,000 people dead.

Romania's top leaders joined several hundred people, including senior US and other foreign diplomats in Bucharest, at a gathering Monday in front of the capital's National Theatre to pay homage to the victims of 9/11.

President Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu condemned the events five years ago, when hijackers crashed airliners into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon near Washington.

"Terrorism wants to turn us all in living victims, to destroy the civilisation and the values in which we believe," Tariceanu said. "We have a huge responsibility, the responsibility of freedom."

The 9/11 attacks on the United States, which Tariceanu described as "a tragic landmark" in world history, were followed by bombings in many other places across the globe, including in Madrid, Istanbul and London.

Joining the global fight against terrorism, Romania and other SEE nations -- including Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia and Turkey -- have contributed troops to the NATO-led operation in Afghanistan, the country which NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer described Monday as "the cradle of 9/11".

Commemorative services and ceremonies marking the fifth anniversary were also held in Pristina, Sarajevo and Sofia. A retired Bulgarian military intelligence officer, whose American daughter-in-law died in the attack on the World Trade Centre, stressed the need for strong international co-operation in the global fight against terrorism.

Addressing a meeting of Asian and European leaders in Helsinki on Monday, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis called for support of interfaith dialogue as a means for dealing with global threats arising from the clash of cultures.

"In this way we can strengthen the voice of moderates and help the international community combat ignorance, bigotry and hatred, and deal with threats, such as terrorism and religious fanaticism," the Greek news agency ANA-MPA quoted him as saying.

Speaking at a ceremony at the US embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Presidency Chairman Sulejman Tihic said his country is committed to giving its full contribution within the international coalition against terrorism.

Increased co-operation in the fight against terrorism following the 9/11 attacks has led to the freezing of the assets and bank accounts of people in BiH and Albania, believed to be linked to al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups and has helped foil potential new attacks that could have claimed thousands of lives.

Meanwhile, a recent German Marshall Fund survey on transatlantic trends showed that an increasing number of people in the United States and in 12 European states, including Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, view international terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism as an "extremely important" threat.

While this view was shared by 58% of Europeans last year, their number has increased to 66%, according to this year's survey. The picture in the United States was similar, with 79% of respondents sharing this view now, up from 72% last year.