The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) has restored a number of mosques within the Balkans, reviving their authentic identities and reinforcing consciousness of unity and solidarity within the area. These efforts underscore Türkiye’s position in selling regional peace.
TIKA vice chairman Mahmut Çevik mentioned the social and cultural impression of mosque restoration tasks within the Balkans on the event of Mosques and Religious Officials Week. He informed Anadolu Agency (AA) that TIKA has undertaken the restoration of roughly 90 historic monuments within the Balkans, which have been below Ottoman rule for 550 years, with 45 of them being mosques.
Highlighting how TIKA’s actions contribute to Türkiye’s position in establishing social peace within the area, Çevik stated, “These activities contribute to the awareness of unity and solidarity in the region. They enable kin and related communities to preserve their identities and allow future generations to exist with their unique cultural identities.”
Çevik emphasised that the Estergon Öziceli Mosque, and Zigetvar Kanuni Mosque are actually used as museums in Hungary. In North Macedonia, the Štip-Husam Pasha Mosque, and Prilep-Carsi Mosque had been left unattended, some even dealing with possession points.
Çevik defined that this degradation of cultural heritage within the Balkans was attributable to varied causes, akin to disasters, social components and financial limitations amongst others.
TIKA’s work focuses on preserving present constructions as common values consistent with worldwide conservation rules, and cultural and human values contemplating every nation’s distinctive dynamics and authorized framework.
Çevik confused that it’s everybody’s accountability to switch cultural heritage, formed all through human historical past, to future generations. TIKA is dedicated to preserving not solely bodily constructions but in addition intangible cultural property in areas the place kins and associated communities reside within the area.
He identified that the destruction of mosques within the Balkans started with territories misplaced by the Ottomans, and that social life typically expanded from mosques. He defined that the destruction of mosques was not solely about stopping non secular actions however was additionally an try and undermine outstanding symbols and rework social life. This pattern emerged at a time when Ottoman peace was disrupted by varied provocations and continued afterward. Çevik famous that the world had intently noticed this example, particularly through the Bosnian War.
Çevik emphasised that TIKA had achieved quite a few successes with its tasks within the Balkans, citing examples of the restoration of Albania’s Preze Kale Mosque and Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Ferhadiye Mosque restored by TIKA in 2015.
According to latest analysis, there are greater than 20,000 Ottoman architectural works within the Balkans. Among these constructions, mosques like Romania’s Constanta Hünkar Mosque, Kosovo’s Prizren Bayraklı Mosque, Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Mostar Keyvan Kethuda Mosque and North Macedonia’s Skopje Murat Pasha Mosque have been lately restored with TIKA’s help.
Source: www.dailysabah.com