Thousands of Muslims flocked to the town of Foca yesterday for the reopening of a historic mosque levelled at the beginning of the Bosnian war, in a ceremony aimed at encouraging religious tolerance between deeply divided communities.
The 16th century Aladza Mosque was one of the most prominent masterpieces of classical Ottoman architecture in the Balkans before its destruction in the 1992-95 war by Bosnian Serb forces trying to carve out an ethnically “pure” state.
The eastern town of Foca became notorious for the mass persecution and killings of non-Serbs that took place there during the conflict.
Before the war, the Bosnian Muslims, or Bosniaks, made up 51% of its 41,000 residents with the remainder mostly Serbs.
Today, among some 18,000 residents, just over 1,000 Bosniaks remain.
“Everything that was connected to Islam, its civilisation or culture was destroyed,” said 65-year-old Muslim worshipper Sulejman Dzamalija.
Sacred items dumped on rubbish tips have been restored and built into the mosque “to mark the start of a new era in this part of the country,” he said.
Nestled in the valley by the Drina river, Aladza was one of 17 Ottoman mosques in Foca.
Five of them were destroyed during World War II, while the 12 remaining were demolished during the 1990 war.
During the war, Bosnian Serbs authorities renamed the town Srbinje, but Bosnia’s top court ordered the reinstatement of the original name of Foca in 2004.
Mohamed Jusic, the Foca assembly speaker, said the reconstructed mosque offered hope for the return of pre-war residents and “a new beginning in Foca”.
Twenty four years on from the devastating war between its Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats, Bosnia remains split along ethnic lines, with rival groups blocking reconciliation and reform needed to join the European Union.
Work on rebuilding the mosque started in 2012 and was financed by the governments of Turkey and the US.
“Aladza should serve as a monument to resilience, reconciliation and diversity,” said US ambassador Eric Nelson.
Turkish Culture Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said reopening of the mosque demonstrates that “racism and hatred can make material damage but cannot destroy culture of co-existence nourished for centuries”.
Muslims wait for an opening ceremony of renewed Aladza Mosque, which was demolished at the beginning of the Bosnian war, in Foca.
