Turkey supports Bosnian history with '100 schools project'

The Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) plans to help restore the educational and cultural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2012. Dr. Zulkuf Oruc, TIKA's Bosnia and Herzegovina coordinator, in speaking to the Anatolia news agency on Monday in Sarajevo, said, "TIKA will provide a significant contribution to the restructuring process in Bosnia and Herzegovina." "We are planning to support 100 schools in the country, which possesses an Ottoman cultural heritage. TIKA's science and technology centers, constructed for Dzemal Bijedic University in Mostar, will soon be inaugurated," Oruc noted. Oruc said TIKA will this year also restore the Bridge on the Drina in Visegrad and the Kursumlija Mosque in Maglaj, and will build the Museum of Srebrenica in Sarajevo. TIKA aims to restore the Ottoman heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the Balkans, and wants to make it valuable for tourism, Oruc said. He continued, "We are building not only history and tradition, we are also building the common future of Bosnia and Herzegovina." Oruc said they have also completed some projects related to livestock, greenhouses and fisheries around the country.