Turkish army chief visits grave of Izetbegovic

As part of his tour of the Balkans, Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Ozel is in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he visited the resting place of soldiers who died in the Bosnian war and also the grave of the first president of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegovic, who died in 2003. Prior to his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday, Ozel was in the Kosovar city of Prizren, where he visited the Sinan Pasa Mosque. Ozel was received by Prizren's deputy mufti, Ali Vezay, who welcomed Ozel by saying: "Welcome home." Ozel expressed his pleasure at seeing an Ottoman-era mosque in Prizren, noting that the mosque was renovated by the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) and opened for prayer in 2011. Constructed in 1615 by the Ottoman governor of Bosnia, Sinan Pasa, the mosque plays an important role in the social life of the city along with the open-air market and city square. Damaged over time, especially during wars, the mosque has been carefully restored with much attention paid to preservation of the original architectural features. Meanwhile, Ozel also met separately with Kosovar President Atifete Jahjaga and Lt. Gen. Kadri Kastrati, where Jahjaga thanked Ozel for Turkey's support for Kosovo. In return, Ozel told Jahjaga that Turkish troops would remain in Kosovo to maintain the country's peace and stability. "Turkey gives its full support to Kosovo's integration with other organizations, including NATO and the European Union," said Ozel.