The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), the country’s flagship development aid body, also works to keep Ottoman heritage in countries where the empire once left its hallmarks of civilization. From exquisite mosques to clock towers, bridges and schools, more than 80 structures were restored in Balkan countries by TIKA so far.

The agency builds or rather, reinforces bridges between Türkiye and Balkan countries, whose history has been intricately linked to the country and always remained in contact with this former heart of the Ottoman Empire.

The empire, which reigned most parts of the Balkans, directly or by proxy for some 550 years, left behind traces of its civilization, in every field, from politics and economy to culture and religion. Mosques, madrasas, clock towers, Turkish baths and bridges constructed in the Ottoman era stand the test of time in most places in the Balkans. Along with the region, TIKA reaches out to Ottoman heritage structures in Asia and Africa.

The agency, which runs 11 coordination offices in the Balkans, concentrates mostly on mosques that have been damaged or left dilapidated in the past. It completed the restoration and renovation of 40 mosques in the Balkans.

In Albania, for instance, TIKA restored Ethem Bey Mosque in the capital Tirana between 2018 and 2021. One of eight great mosques dating back to the Ottoman times in Tirana, the mosque, built in the 18th century, was built by Molla Bey and his son Haxhi Ethem Bey, an Ottoman Albanian administrator of that century. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan inaugurated the mosque in January after it was restored. Last year, TIKA also completed the restoration of the Bachelor’s Mosque in the city of Berat and a UNESCO Cultural Heritage site dating back to the 19th century. TIKA also restored seven other mosques in the country.

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, TIKA completed reconstruction work at Ferhadija Mosque which was damaged during the Bosnian War between 1992 and 1995, in 2016. In 2015, the restoration of the oldest mosque of Sarajevo, Careva Mosque, was also completed by TIKA. The mosque is regarded as the first mosque built in the city after the conquest by the Ottomans in the 15th century. Also in the country, TIKA took on the restoration of six other mosques. In Montenegro, it spearheaded the restoration of a 17th-century Ottoman mosque now located in a village. The agency completely rebuilt the heavily damaged mosque, based on its authentic plans and reopened it in 2015. Three more mosques were restored by the agency in the country. In Kosovo, TIKA was behind the restoration work of Sinan Paşa Mosque, an Ottoman-era place of worship in Prizren and a mosque built by Mehmed II The Conqueror in the 15th century, as well as four other mosques in the country.