Eurasia Press & News
Five years since it was burned and devastated in demonstrations inspired by Albanian violence against Kosovo Serbs on March 17, 2004, the 16th century Bayrakli Mosque in Belgrade still is not fully repaired.
The mosque was heavily damaged by angry youths who broke all its windows and furniture and then put it on fire. So far a prosecutor in Belgrade has indicted one person, Stefan Gajic from Belgrade, and police are still investigating 22 others.
The youths were protesting against attacks by ethnic Albanians on Serb enclaves in Kosovo which left hundreds of Serbs homeless.
General Secretary of Riyasat Eldin Asceric told B92 that on the night of attack he was in a seminary together with 30 students, mostly minors: ”I had to wake them up. Many of them were only in their pajamas or had forgotten some of their personal things. Everything they had was on fire, at the end,” he said.
The library with more than 7,000 valuable books and rare manuscripts was completely burned. Asceric said that the government gave several million dinars for reconstruction, but this was not enough to fund the repair. Only the exterior of Mosque is repaired, although many officials promised to help complete reconstruction. Thanks to foreign donations, the Islamic Comunity in Belgrade managed to rebuilt part of the library, several classrooms and a dormitory for students.
Bayrakli Mosque was built around 1575, and is the only remaining mosque in Belgrade out of the 273 that had existed during the time of the Ottoman Empire’s rule of Serbia. During the occupation of Serbia by the Austrians (between 1717 and 1739), it was converted into a Roman Catholic church, but after the Ottomans retook Belgrade, it was returned to its original function.
