The Book of Turkish Works Translated into Churches was Launched in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) introduced the book “Turkish Works Converted to Churches”, which was prepared for structures that were originally Turkish and later converted into churches, with a program organized in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

YTB supported and introduced the book “Turkish Works Converted into Churches”, which emerged after Mehmet Emin Yılmaz’s inventory study on structures that were originally Turkish and later converted into churches in 19 countries in the former Ottoman geography. The first introduction program of the book was held in the Anatolia-Rumelia Culture and Arts foyer area of ​​YTB. The promotion event of the book “Turkish Works Converted to Churches” in the Balkans was held in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The program held in the Gazi Husrev Bey Library was attended by YTB President Abdullah Eren, master architect Mehmet Emin Yılmaz, the owner of the work, and representatives of Turkish institutions and organizations.

Eren said that YTB attach great importance to Bosnia and Herzegovina and carries out educational and cultural studies in particular.

Stating that they have revealed works built in the Ottoman Empire period and converted into churches in 19 countries in the book “Turkish Works Converted into Churches”, Eren said, “Mehmet Emin Yılmaz conducted this study as an architect and historian. We learned about our esteemed teacher’s work. We told him that we better expand the number and scope of countries. This is very important for us because we need to know which works are used as churches, losing their mosque identity after they were left by the Ottomans.”

Eren, who explained that the number of works built as mosques and converted into churches is very high, said, “From time to time, we receive criticism regarding churches that are converted into mosques. However, when you look at it from the other side, there is an incredible contradiction. The number of works built as mosques and converted into churches is many times higher than the other, it is incomparable. We are in favor of carrying this out in an atmosphere of tolerance, but if numbers had to be put forward, we say, '451 works in 19 countries,that have been built as Islamic Works as mosques, madrasas.’ Even though they could be inns, they could be baths, you started using them for other purposes later on,' he said.

345 of the 451 Works Examined Are Mosques

The author of the work, Mehmet Emin Yılmaz, stated that he conducted a 12-year study and identified architectural works built by Turks and converted into churches, and that most of the examined works were found in the Balkans. Stating that 345 of the 451 works examined were mosques, Yılmaz said, “345 of the 451 works examined were mosques, the rest were tombs, lodges and other buildings. There are sultans’ mosques, namely mosques built in certain Ottoman cities in the Balkans. The structure known as the Old Mosque built by Ottoman Sultan Yıldırım Bayezid in Drama was built in the 14th century, the oldest sultan’s mosque in the Balkans, and after the population exchange in 1924, it became the property of Greece and was converted into a church. Similarly, there is the Black Mosque in Sofia, a work by Mimar Sinan, which was also converted into a church in the early 1900s and is still used as a church.”